Background
Infants with congenital heart diseases (CHD) are usually born at full term with normal weight for gestational age. Nutritional issues often occur shortly after birth and growth failure appears in the neonatal period, if hemodynamically significant CHD is present. In some cases, the delay can be relatively mild, where as in other cases, the failure to thrive can lead to permanent physical or developmental impairment.
Aim
To assess the degree of adherence to the locally approved guidelines of nutrition for patients with CHD in Assiut University Children Hospital.
Patients and methods
This work is a cross-sectional, observational, and clinical audit study that included all cases with CHDs admitted at the Cardiology Unit in Assiut University Children Hospital from the start of March 2017 to the end of August 2017.
Results
This study included 70 patients (45 men and 25 women) with CHD diagnosed clinically and by echocardiography. Their ages ranged from 1 month to 8 years. Nutritional history was asked about by resident doctors in 45.7% of cases. Tubal feeding was done in 27.1% of the studied cases. Nasogastric tube was inserted in these cases.