Impact of Congenital Heart Disease at Adulthood

Abstract

Since the first surgical techniques for patients with congenital heart disease (ConHD) became available some 55 years ago, virtually every area of patient care has evolved substantially. These improvements lead to an increased survival for patients with ConHD, with over 90% of infants reaching adulthood. This increased survival lead to a shift of focus in that congenital heart disease at adult age nowadays is considered a chronic disease. Therefore, current research does not only focus on survival, but also on the quality of life of these patients. The term quality of life is broad and encompasses many dimensions of life, including – but not limited to – living conditions, wealth and employment, physical and mental health, education, leisure time, psychosocial functioning, lifestyle and social adaptation. In order to investigate the impact of living with a congenital heart defect at adulthood, the aims of this thesis were threefold; 1) To investigate the impact on biographical characteristics 2) To investigate the impact on psychological aspects 3) To investigate the impact on medical aspect