Features of Physical and Motor Development of Children with Congenital Heart Diseases

INTRODUCTION: Children with congenital heart diseases (CHD) have certain peculiarities of development determined by the pathology of the cardiovascular system. The type, severity of CHD, the age of correction of the disorder and a number of other factors have a direct impact on the severity of its non-cardiologic complications, such as disorders in physical and motor development attributable to specific conditions of formation of the nervous system in children with CHD.

AIM: To systematize the currently available data on the peculiarities of physical and motor development of children with CHD and their underlying factors, to justify the importance of a more in-depth examination of children at all stages of their development and of the need to correct the identified disorders starting from the moment of their diagnosis.

The review presents the data on the incidence and peculiarities of deviations in motor development of children with CHD at different age periods; describes factors predisposing to their development, as well as the possibilities of diagnosis and correction of such disorders. Besides, information is provided on the development of the balance function that is also impaired in this cohort of patients. Since the physical and motor development of children are closely interrelated and related to the development of the nervous and muscular systems, and the muscle strength and balance are integral components of some motor skills, each of these parameters is considered in a separate section of the article. Acyanotic heart diseases are more commonly associated with disorders in the weight gain, and cyanotic ones — with retardation of children in growth and body mass. Another manifestation of retardation of physical development of children with CHD is deficit of muscle mass development reflected in the research-confirmed reduction of muscle strength in this category of patients. Disorders in fine and/or large motor skills are noted in one to two thirds of children with CHD from an early age to adulthood. Disorders in the motor sphere in childhood entail physical inactivity, psychological and cognitive problems, difficulties in socialization significantly reducing the quality of life.

CONCLUSION: Children with CHD are characterized by peculiarities of the physical and motor development, which have a significant impact on the child’s life. Therefore, currently of paramount importance is not only examination of the cardiovascular system of children with CHD, but also their physical and motor development, as well as timely identification of deviations in the physical and motor development and their targeted rehabilitation.