Cardiological Complaints in School-Age Children

Night sweats; School-age children (especially boys aged 6-10) have high daily activities and therefore their metabolism is very fast during the day. However, after falling asleep at night, metabolism remains rapid for 2-3 hours and excessive sweating may occur during this time. Since metabolism slows down in the following hours, this sweating does not occur again. This situation is normal in healthy children. However, if sweating continues all night long, both cardiac and non-cardiac causes should be investigated.

Fatigue easily: During puberty, children begin to grow rapidly in height (approximately 10-15 cm per year). . Prolonged dyeing requires time, especially the adaptation of the circulatory system. For this reason, they begin to have difficulty in doing daily activities (such as climbing stairs, running) that they could easily do at the age of 8-10, or they get tired easily. This is a healthy situation. However, if the child states that he/she gets tired easily since starting primary school (especially in physical education class), if he/she has complaints such as palpitations, chest pain, chest tightness or fainting feeling during or after sports, he/she should be examined for heart disease-arrhythmia.

Growth-development retardation, inability to gain weight: Some congenital heart diseases may not cause symptoms even until adulthood, or a cardiac finding (such as a murmur) may not be identified by the doctor. In this type of heart disease, the child's complaints such as short stature, inability to gain weight, or getting tired easily are important for cardiological examination.

Chest pain: Chest pain is a common complaint in children and adolescents. However, this pain is mostly caused by non-cardiac reasons. If the pain is unrelated to effort and the child has never had a cardiological examination before, routine cardiological examinations (ECG, echocardiography, some blood tests if necessary) should be performed for control purposes. However, if the pain occurs especially during exertion, it may be caused by diseases such as congenital or acquired heart muscle diseases and congenital coronary vascular anomalies. In addition to routine cardiological examinations, an exercise test should be performed to evaluate the condition.

Palpitation; Palpitations may occur alone or with chest pain. It may occur during rest or while exercising. Regardless of the situation, it should be evaluated with a Holter (rhythm) test, in which ECG is monitored for 24 hours, and, if necessary, an exercise test, in addition to routine cardiological examinations.

Bradycardia (slow pulse): Especially in children who are swimmers. The pulse may be around 60/min. However, in order not to miss some important rhythm disorders, the child's cardiac rhythm should be checked at least once with an ECG.

Fainting: Fainting can occur due to neurological and metabolic reasons, as well as congenital or acquired heart disease. and may also be due to heart muscle diseases or rhythm disorders. Especially in adolescence, complaints such as dizziness, blackout, and nausea, which occur on an empty stomach or while standing still, may progress to fainting. In such cases, if routine cardiological examinations are performed and no heart-related findings are found, these complaints can be prevented with some suggestions. Fainting that occurs during or after sports is very important in terms of rhythm disorders and should be examined with Holter (rhythm), exercise tests and, if necessary, further rhythm tests.

Acute rheumatic fever: Schools in our country. It is a common disease in young children. Following a throat infection due to beta hemolytic streptococci (beta microbes), it causes joint or heart rheumatism in children with familial genetic susceptibility. Clinical findings of joint rheumatism easily lead to diagnosis. However, repeated throat infections that the child has may lead to repeated attacks of rheumatism and may progress to severe valve damage. During this process, no clinical findings or complaints may be observed (silent carditis). For this reason, routine cardiological examination should be recommended, especially for children between the ages of 5-10, if it has never been performed before.

Long QT finding on ECG: Every school-age child should have an ECG once. . The measurements we make on the ECG indicate that serious problems may occur, especially when the child is exposed to painful stress such as sports or trauma. It will help determine whether there is a risk of anxiety disorder.

The importance of sports: Today, our children mostly go to school by bus and the daily calories they need to consume as children are insufficient. For this reason, we often encounter problems with fatigue and obesity in daily activities. In order to become a healthy adolescent-adult and to gain the habit of living together with sports, the recommended exercise of 45 minutes at least 3 times a week will also be reflected in our children's school success.