Lesion-based Patterns of Morbidity and Mortality in Hospitalized Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease

Objective:The objective of this analysis is to describe the characteristics and morbidity during hospitalizations among adolescents with congenital heart disease(AdoCHD)from the Pediatric Health Information System(PHIS)database.Methods:The PHIS database was queried for all AdoCHD admissions aged 12–18 years(1/1/2004–12/31/2013).Major forms of CHD were identified by their International Classification of Diseases,ninth revision codes,further verified based on their secondary diagnosis and/or procedure codes.Patient characteristics,diagnoses,procedures and vital status were assessed.Results:In total,there were 4,267 adolescents admitted to 42 Children’s Hospitals,58.3%were males,24.6%single ventricle(SV)patients,64.1%bi-ventricle(BV),and 11.3%could not be classified.They accounted for 8,512 hospitalizations(41,240 total hospital days),of which 31.6%were intensive care unit(ICU)stays.ICU stay was similar for the SVand BV patients with similar duration of mechanical ventilation between the two groups.Overall,the most common CHD among in-patients was tetralogy of Fallot(TOF,36.4%).Larger proportion of the BVAdoCHD admissions were for elective surgical and electrophysiological procedures.There were 109(2.5%)heart transplantations(1.3%SV vs.0.6%BV)and 120 in-hospital deaths(2.8%)(1.1%SV vs.1.3%BV).Hypoplastic left heart syndrome was the most common diagnosis in transplanted patients(46%)and those who died(28%);TOF(29%)was frequent in 91(2.1%)patients who had cardiac arrests.Conclusions:Different hospitalization patterns exist for BV and SV AdoCHD.Recognizing this risk may encourage directing resources toward optimizing long-term care of CHD patients.