Adult CHD patients under clinical follow-up have a similar quality of life to the general population in Malta.
BACKGROUND
The improved survival of patients born with CHD has led to increasing interest in research on quality of life of adult survivors. We report the findings of the first study in Malta carried out to investigate quality of life in adults with CHD under follow-up.


METHODS
A self-reporting questionnaire modelled on the basis of the European Health Interview Survey 2008, including questions on mental health and vitality, was administered to consecutive adult CHD outpatients, aged 16 years and over, between May, 2013 and May, 2014. Foreigners and patients with learning difficulties or cognitive impairment were excluded. Quality-of-life data were compared with that from 371 age- and sex-matched 2008 survey responders - general population cohort. The impact of congenital lesion complexity, hospitalisation in the preceding 12 months, arrhythmias, co-morbidities, and cardiac medication use on quality of life of the CHD cohort was also investigated.


RESULTS
There were a total of 120 patient responders (63 males; mean age 30.53, SD 12.77 years). Overall, there were no significant differences in mental health and vitality between patient and general population cohorts, although older patients had better mental health scores compared with age-matched controls. Within the adult CHD cohort, hospitalisation in the preceding 12 months was the only factor associated with a poorer quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, CHD has no negative impact on mental health and vitality in Maltese adult patients under follow-up. Patients needing frequent hospitalisations might warrant closer attention by clinical psychologists.
1Department of Cardiology,Mater Dei Hospital,Msida,Malta,Europe.
Maryanne
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3947-3350
M
Caruana
2Department of Paediatrics,Mater Dei Hospital,Msida,Malta,Europe.
Victor
V
Grech
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008319:Malta / Q000453:epidemiology; D008603:Mental Health; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
Quality of life; cardiac arrhythmias; hospitalisation; mental health