Connection between Growth Retardation (Stunting) and Congenital Heart Disease in Ugandan Children

A cross-sectional study from the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda shows the high demand for the recognition, prevention and treatment of malnutrition in children with congenital heart disease. Of 194 Ugandan children aged 0 to 15 who were treated for congenital heart disease in the winter of 2013/14, 88 were stunted and 53 weighed too little in relation to their height. In contrast to the normally developed children, the children with growth retardations (stunting) and underweight suffered more often from cardiac insufficiency as well as anemia. In Sub-Saharan Africa congenital heart defects in children are often not able to be corrected, because malnurished children are too weak to survive the procedure.

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A Batte et al. Wasting, underweight and stunting among children with congenital heart disease presenting at Mulago hospital, Uganda. BMC Pediatr. 2017 Jan 11;17(1):10. doi: 10.1186/s12887-017-0779-y, available via https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28077108