Do parental ratings on cognition reflect neuropsychological outcome in congenital heart disease?
OBJECTIVE
To describe the parental view of the cognitive skills of their child with a surgically corrected congenital heart disease (CHD) and compare it to objectified cognitive measures in children with CHD 6-12 years postoperatively.


METHODS
Parents completed a questionnaire on several cognitive functions of their child. Children with CHD and healthy controls (n=86, aged 8 years 8 months +/- 1 year 6 months) underwent an abbreviated IQ-testing and a neurodevelopmental assessment.


RESULTS
Parents of the children with CHD more frequently indicated lower sustained attention (p<0.05), lower divided attention (p<0.001), more problems with memory and learning skills (p<0.05), and deficient gross motor functioning (p<0.01) compared to the parents of healthy controls. Intellectual and neuropsychological assessment revealed a lower estimated full-scale IQ (p<0.01), worse sensorimotor functioning (p<0.001), and lower performances on language (p<0.001), attention/executive functioning (p<0.05), and memory (p<0.05) in the CHD-group. Several items of the questionnaire were significant predictors for worse neurodevelopmental outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the objective and subjective measures on cognitive functioning are in agreement and indicate the presence of neurocognitive deficits in children with CHD. This study endorses the accuracy and usefulness of a parental questionnaire to report on the cognitive functioning of the child and urges the investigation of neurocognitive functioning in children with CHD at follow-up.
Laboratory for Neuropsychology, Department of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. marijke.miatton@ugent.be
Marijke
M
Miatton
Daniël
D
De Wolf
Katrien
K
François
Evert
E
Thiery
Guy
G
Vingerhoets
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D014888:Wechsler Scales