Klébia Magalhães Pereira Castello Branco et al. Maria Verônica Câmara dos Santos
In the last decades, we have been watching a remarkable increase in survival of children with congenital heart disease (CHD), due to advances in surgical and medical management, leading to a significant growth in the number of adolescents and young adults with the disease. In developed countries, the number of adults with CHD surpasses the number of children with CHD.
Unfortunately, prolonged survival has been achieved at a high cost, as an expressive number of patients continue to suffer from significant medical, psychological and social issues. The knowledge that CHD brings an individual burden is not a new concept. In 1964, Glaser concluded that “Despite benefits derived from these remarkable therapeutic gains, children with CHD face many difficulties in their efforts toward social and emotional adjustment.”
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