Published:
February 16, 2021
Many people assume heart conditions only affect older adults. While it’s true that aging increases a person’s risk for cardiovascular diseases due to changes to the heart and blood vessels, the fact is, children experience a variety of heart issues, too.
Pediatric heart conditions range from congenital heart disease, which is present at birth, to acquired issues such as those caused by illnesses that can impact the heart.
Congenital heart disease is a term used to describe a number of structural abnormalities that occur during pregnancy, as the baby’s heart is developing. These include aortic stenosis, atrial septal defect (ASD), Ebstein anomaly, pulmonary stenosis, and ventricular septal defect (VSD). Congenital heart disease (CHD) affects 1 in 120 babies born in the United States, making heart defects the most common birth defects.
Acquired heart conditions in children develop after birth. These can be caused by inflammation from a viral or bacterial infection. Sometimes acquired conditions are associated with a chronic disease or medication that affects the heart or other parts of the body. Examples include Kawasaki disease, rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, myocarditis, pericarditis, and cardiomyopathy.
What symptoms could indicate a problem? When should parents be concerned?
In most cases, children with the symptoms outlined below will fortunately not have any heart problems. For instance, chest pain is often related to musculoskeletal chest wall pain rather than heart disease, and some children may become dizzy when not drinking enough fluid.
However, if your child has any of these symptoms, it is important to tell your child's pediatrician or primary care doctor. He or she will listen to your child's heart, make a full medical evaluation, and then decide whether a referral to a pediatric cardiologist is appropriate.
Infants
- Faster breathing and becoming out of breath, particularly with feeds
- Becoming excessively sweaty during feeds
- Turning blue inside the mouth (ex: gums and tongue)
- Fainting and losing consciousness
Toddlers/Children
- Unable to keep up physically with other children
- Becoming out of breath with activity sooner than other children
- Fainting and losing consciousness
Older Children/Teens
- Unable to keep up physically with other children
- Becoming out of breath with activity sooner than other children
- Chest pain, especially with exercise
- Fainting and losing consciousness
- Palpitations (heart skipping a beat or beating abnormally)
- Dizziness, especially with exercise
While the majority of these symptoms may be false alarms for any heart disease, we know that these symptoms can be stressful and scary! Please rest assured that cardiac specialty care from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia physicians is available for you and your child at the Lancaster General Health Suburban Pavilion.