Cor Vasa 2019, 61(1):32-41 | DOI: 10.33678/cor.2019.003

Quality of life and depression in adults with repaired complex cyanotic congenital heart disease in the Czech Republic

Jana Rubáčková Popelová^a,b, Renata Živná^a, Markéta Tomková^a, Jakub Tomek^a

^a Department of Cardiac Surgery, Hospital Na Homolce, Prague, Czech Republic

^b Pediatric Heart Centre, Faculty Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic

Background: Good quality of life is an important goal in treatment of complex cyanotic congenital heart disease (CHD); however, there is a lack of consensus concerning quality of life in complex CHD patients in the literature. The aim of this study was to assess quality of life and rate of depression in adults with complex cyanotic CHD late after repair.

Method: The studied cohort consists of 212 adults with repaired complex cyanotic CHD and 86 healthy controls. Subjects filled in questionnaires evaluating quality of life (SF-36) and depression (Zung self-rating depression scale). Additional data on the influence of CHD on patient's life, physical activities, NYHA class, echocardiographic parameters, etc. were recorded. The results were compared with a previously published cohort of 32 cyanotic adults with unrepaired CHD.

Results: The rate of depression did not differ significantly between repaired CHD patients and healthy controls. Severe depression was found in 8.5% of repaired complex CHD, in 7.0% of controls (p = 0.816), and in 28.1% of the unrepaired CHD with persistent cyanosis (p = 0.003). The quality of life measured by SF-36 was not significantly different between repaired CHD and controls, except for lower general health perception, physical functioning, and physical role limitation.

Conclusion: The repaired complex cyanotic CHD patients have a good quality of life, similar to controls, while unrepaired patients have a significantly higher rate of depression.

Keywords: Adults, Complex congenital heart disease, Depression, Quality of life, Questionnaire SF-36

Received: October 4, 2018; Revised: November 13, 2018; Accepted: November 17, 2018; Published: March 21, 2019  Show citation