1-At what age is heart disease most common in children?
The causes, symptoms and onset times of heart disease in children are different from adult heart diseases. Heart diseases in the pediatric age group can be basically evaluated in two large groups as "congenital" and "acquired or non-congenital". If a more detailed classification is desired; Heart diseases in childhood; It includes many different groups such as congenital structural heart diseases, acquired heart diseases, rheumatic heart diseases, heart diseases associated with rhythm disorders, diseases of the heart muscle or membranes, heart failure, and high blood pressure. Therefore, the time at which the disease occurs and is diagnosed varies depending on the underlying cause. For example, while most congenital structural heart diseases can be diagnosed in the early stages of life, such as the neonatal period and infancy, thanks to physical examination and advanced diagnostic tools, some of them remain silent and may appear with different findings in later stages of life. Rheumatic heart diseases, which are indirectly triggered by infectious agents, often occur in children between the ages of 5 and 15. Heart rhythm disorders can be due to congenital or acquired causes and can be seen in different periods of childhood. Symptoms that occur due to narrowing and occlusion of coronary arteries, which are common in adults, are very rare in childhood unless there is familial hypercholesterolemia.
2-How can it be understood that your child has heart disease? Which symptoms are more common?
Symptoms of heart diseases in childhood vary with age. In the neonatal period and infancy, sweating is prominent in situations where the baby exerts effort such as bruising, difficulty in feeding, failure to gain weight and development failure, and feeding. Difficulty in breathing and frequent breathing can also be symptoms of heart disease during this period. Frequent respiratory infections and easy fatigue are the main symptoms in later ages. In schoolchildren and adolescence, fainting, chest pain, palpitations, pain and swelling in the joints, Quick fatigue and shortness of breath may occur during exertion while doing daily activities. Following a physical examination after such complaints, the diagnosis of heart disease can be confirmed with advanced diagnostic testing. One of the most commonly used diagnostic tests in our country is rhythm evaluation with ECG, ultrasonographic evaluation called echocardiography and structural and functional evaluations of the heart. In some cases where further examination is required, cardiac angiography can be performed in many centers in our country for diagnosis and treatment purposes. Another point that should not be forgotten is that there are heart diseases that progress silently without always clearly visible symptoms. For these situations, there are findings that can only be detected by a pediatrician's examination in the periodic follow-up of healthy children. When these patients are specifically evaluated for their heart, heart disease can be detected at an early stage. In this sense, it is important for parents to comply with the healthy child examination follow-up of their children, even if they appear healthy.
3-Which heart diseases are most common in children in our country?
In our country, whether they occur in childhood due to both congenital and acquired causes, it is reported in the world medical literature. All defined heart diseases can be encountered with varying frequencies. In addition, all childhood heart diseases can be diagnosed and treated with advanced diagnostic methods and treatment methods in our country. Depending on the type of disease, these diseases can be treated with medication or, when necessary, with cardiac angiography and various operations. With appropriate diagnosis and treatment, negative consequences such as high pulmonary blood pressure due to heart diseases, which were frequently encountered before, are now less common. With appropriate treatment of infectious agents, rheumatic diseases of the heart valves and heart failure are now less common. Therefore, the importance of early diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in children becomes evident. If these patients are diagnosed early and treated appropriately, many vital complications can be prevented.
4-Parents Is every child with heart disease a candidate for heart disease?
It is known that if the parents have congenital heart disease or there is a history of hereditary disease in the family, the risk of children having heart disease is higher than normal. However, the causes of congenital heart diseases are multifactorial and heart diseases can often occur without genetic predisposition. Especially in the presence of genetic diseases in the family or in pregnancy-related risky pregnancies, prenatal screening is performed with a diagnostic evaluation known as fetal echocardiography from the early pregnancy period onwards to determine the possible risk and make appropriate preparations for the baby at birth.
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