Evaluation of body weight in individuals with congenital heart defects

Abstract

Introduction: The congenital heart defects are classified, according to hemodynamic repercussion, in acyanotic (no mixture between oxygenated and non-oxygenated fractions in the systemic circulation) and cyanotic (with mixture of the fractions). Objective: To investigate possible changes in body weight in children with congenital acyanotic or cyanotic, during the pre and post-surgery periods. Methods: It was evaluated 40 children, aged 2-6 years diagnosed with congenital cyanotic or acyanotic. Results: There were significant differences in the acyanotic group, showing that on average the children were -3.2% of ideal weight preoperatively rising to 3.7% in the third return after surgery. However, there were no significant differences in the cyanotic group. There were also no differences when comparing both groups in relation to variations in the percentage calculated from the real and ideal weights, in the pre-and postoperative. Conclusion: The study suggests that there is a significant relationship between changes in body weight and acyanotic cardiomyopathy.