Congenital Heart Disease

Recent changes to a heart transplant allocation policy improved waitlist outcomes for children born with heart defects and adults with cardiomyopathy, but not in children with cardiomyopathy or adults with heart defects, data show.

The AAP published updated recommendations for screening newborns for critical congenital heart disease with a new algorithm it said could catch more infants than the previous one.

In a Healio interview exclusive, two experts discussed the roles that diet and lifestyle play in promoting fertility among women seeking to conceive.

Women with serum folate levels that were too low or too high during midpregnancy were more likely to have an infant born with congenital heart disease, with maternal vitamin B12 and homocysteine levels modulating risk, researchers reported.

In August, the FDA approved a novel miniaturized cardiac stent for infants and small children with coarctation of the aorta or pulmonary artery stenosis and can be expanded as they grew.

Congenital heart disease-related deaths from 2005 to 2019 were more prevalent among Black vs. white infants, a gap that persisted year after year, a speaker reported at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition.

High- vs. standard-dose influenza vaccine was linked to a lower incidence of mortality and hospitalizations for pneumonia or influenza regardless of chronic CVD, according to a study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.

Biomarkers in dried blood spot testing may help identify congenital heart disease in newborns, according to a study in JAMA Network Open.

Arrhythmia disorders in patients with adult congenital heart disease may significantly contribute to hospitalization and mortality risk, according to data published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

An artificial intelligence-based network successfully identified atrial septal defects from ECGs and holds potential to improve early screening for the congenital anomaly, researchers reported.