An analysis of cardiology consultation requests in infants presented to the pediatric emergency department of a tertiary children’s hospital

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Cardiological emergencies are reported to constitute almost 15% of all emergency department visits. This study aimed to characterize the main signs and symptoms of the infants that necessitated pediatric cardiology consultation and to analyze the characteristics of patients diagnosed with a cardiological disorder

Material and methods

Patients aged 1 month to 1 year who were consulted to the pediatric cardiology service during a 4-year period were retrospectively evaluated. Patients’ age, sex, nationality, complaints at PED, physical examination findings, reason for echocardiography (echo) and final diagnosis were recorded from the hospital medical record system for further analysis. Patients were divided into two groups according to the severity of the echo findings (patients with significant cardiovascular issues and patients without significant cardiovascular issues).

Results

Of the 200 patients included in the study, 19 were in the significant cardiovascular issues, and 181 were in the without significant cardiovascular issue group. The leading complaints of the patients who were consulted to cardiology were cyanosis (22.5%), seizure (22.5%), cough (22%), and fever (19.5%). In emergency presentations, jaundice (16%), nutritional problems (21%), and cardiomegaly (21%) on x-rays were higher in patients with significant cardiovascular issues (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

In conclusion, congenital heart disease is usually diagnosed in the neonatal period, but some patients may be missed due to a variety of symptoms and findings. Infants with feeding problems and jaundice, especially those with cardiomegaly on chest radiographs, should be carefully evaluated for underlying serious congenital heart disease.

KEYWORDS:

• Cardiology concultations
• Pediatric
• congenital heart disease
• Echocardiyography
• Electrocardiyography

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties. Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Author contributions

Betül Öztürk was the principal investigator and was responsible for the data analysis together with Deniz Yaşar and İlker Ufuk Sayıcı assisted in finding cases and transferring data to computer. Raziye Merve Yaradılmış created, Muhammed Mustafa Güneylioğlu made important contributions to the idea or design of the work; or obtaining, analyzing or interpreting data for business. Ali Güngör, Can Demir Karacan, Nilden Tuygun helped draft the work or critically review it for important intellectual content. İlknur Bodur, Aytaç Göktuğ, Orkun Aydın assisted in the final approval of the version to be published. Utku Arman Örün and Nilden Tuygun assisted in the agreement to be responsible for all aspects of the study to ensure that questions regarding the accuracy or completeness of any part of the study are properly investigated and resolved. All members of the Study Team contributed to the management or administration of the study.

Ethical approval

The ethical committee of the institute approved the study (E-22/06–349).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

PED: Pediatric emergency department; Echo: Echocardiyography; ECG: Electrocardiography; CHD: Congenital heart disease.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.