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In 2007, the American Heart Association recommended cessation of antibiotic prophylaxis for infective endocarditis (IE) before dental procedures for all but those at highest risk for adverse outcomes from IE. The impact of these guidelines is unclear. We evaluated IE hospitalizations at US children's hospitals during this period. Children <18 years old hospitalized from 2003 to 2010 with IE at 37 centers in the Pediatric Health Information Systems Database were included. Using Poisson regression, we evaluated the number IE hospitalizations over time (raw and indexed to total hospital admissions). A total of 1157 IE cases were identified; 68% had congenital heart disease (CHD). The raw number of IE cases did not change significantly over time (+1.6% difference post vs pre guidelines, 95% CI −6.4% to +10.3%, P = .7). When the number of IE cases was indexed per 1,000 hospital admissions, there was a significant decline during the time period before the guidelines (annual change: −5.9%, 95% CI −9.9 to −1.8, P = .005) and a similar decline in the post guidelines period such that the difference between the 2 periods was not significant (P = .15). In subgroup analysis, no significant change over time in IE cases (raw or indexed) was found in the CHD subset, those 5 to 18 years old (subgroup most likely receiving dental care), or in cases coded as oral streptococci. We found no evidence that release of new antibiotic prophylaxis guidelines was associated with a significant change in IE admissions across 37 US children's hospitals.

Optimising short- and long-term outcomes for children and patients with CHD depends on continued scientific discovery and translation to clinical improvements in a coordinated effort by multiple stakeholders. Several challenges remain for clinicians, researchers, administrators, patients, and families seeking continuous scientific and clinical advancements in the field. We describe a new integrated research and improvement network – Cardiac Networks United – that seeks to build upon the experience and success achieved to-date to create a new infrastructure for research and quality improvement that will serve the needs of the paediatric and congenital heart community in the future. Existing gaps in data integration and barriers to improvement are described, along with the mission and vision, organisational structure, and early objectives of Cardiac Networks United. Finally, representatives of key stakeholder groups – heart centre executives, research leaders, learning health system experts, and parent advocates – offer their perspectives on the need for this new collaborative effort.

Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on paediatric non-COVID-19-related care, as well as patient and caregiver concerns and stressors, is critical for informing healthcare delivery. It was hypothesised that high care disruptions and psychological stress would be observed among paediatric and adult CHD patients in the early phase of the pandemic. A cross-sectional, international, electronic survey study was completed. Eligible participants included parents of children with acquired or CHD, adults with CHD, or caregivers of adults with CHD. A total of 1220 participants from 25 countries completed the survey from 16 April to 4 May, 2020. Cardiac care disruption was significant with 38% reporting delays in pre-pandemic scheduled cardiac surgeries and 46% experiencing postponed cardiac clinic visits. The majority of respondents (75%) endorsed moderate to high concern about the patient with heart disease becoming ill from COVID-19. Worry about returning for in-person care was significantly greater than worry of harm to patient due to postponed care. Clinically significant psychological stress was high across the sample including children (50%), adults with CHD (42%), and caregivers (42%). The early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to considerable disruptions in cardiac care for patients with paediatric and adult CHD. COVID-19-related fears are notable with potential to impact willingness to return to in-person care. Psychological stress is also very high necessitating intervention. Further study of the impact of delays in care on clinical outcomes is warranted.

The use of clinical registries and administrative data sets in pediatric cardiovascular research has become increasingly common. However, this approach is limited by relatively few existing datasets, each of which contain limited data, and do not communicate with one another. We describe the implementation and validation of methodology using indirect patient identifiers to link The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery (STS-CHS) Database to The Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS) Database (a pediatric administrative database). Centers submitting data to STS-CHS and PHIS during 2004 to 2008 were included (n = 30). Both data sets were limited to patients 0 to 18 years old undergoing cardiac surgery. An exact match was defined as an exact match on each of the following: date of birth, date of admission, date of discharge, sex, and center. Likely matches were defined as an exact match for all variables except ±1 day for one of the date variables. Of 45,830 STS-CHS records, 87.4% matched to PHIS using the exact match criteria and 90.3% using the exact or likely match criteria. Validation in a subset of patients revealed that 100% of exact and likely matches were true matches. This analysis demonstrates that indirect identifiers can be used to create high-quality link between a clinical registry and administrative data set in the congenital heart surgery population. This methodology, which can also be applied to other data sets, allows researchers to capitalize on the strengths of both types of data and expands the pool of data available to answer important clinical questions.

Cardiac intensivists frequently assess patient readiness to wean off mechanical ventilation with an extubation readiness trial despite it being no more effective than clinician judgement alone. We evaluated the utility of high-frequency physiologic data and machine learning for improving the prediction of extubation failure in children with cardiovascular disease. This was a retrospective analysis of clinical registry data and streamed physiologic extubation readiness trial data from one paediatric cardiac ICU (12/2016-3/2018). We analysed patients' final extubation readiness trial. Machine learning methods (classification and regression tree, Boosting, Random Forest) were performed using clinical/demographic data, physiologic data, and both datasets. Extubation failure was defined as reintubation within 48 hrs. Classifier performance was assessed on prediction accuracy and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Of 178 episodes, 11.2% (N = 20) failed extubation. Using clinical/demographic data, our machine learning methods identified variables such as age, weight, height, and ventilation duration as being important in predicting extubation failure. Best classifier performance with this data was Boosting (prediction accuracy: 0.88; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.74). Using physiologic data, our machine learning methods found oxygen saturation extremes and descriptors of dynamic compliance, central venous pressure, and heart/respiratory rate to be of importance. The best classifier in this setting was Random Forest (prediction accuracy: 0.89; area under the receiver operating characteristic curve: 0.75). Combining both datasets produced classifiers highlighting the importance of physiologic variables in determining extubation failure, though predictive performance was not improved. Physiologic variables not routinely scrutinised during extubation readiness trials were identified as potential extubation failure predictors. Larger analyses are necessary to investigate whether these markers can improve clinical decision-making.

Despite many advances in recent years for patients with critical paediatric and congenital cardiac disease, significant variation in outcomes remains across hospitals. Collaborative quality improvement has enhanced the quality and value of health care across specialties, partly by determining the reasons for variation and targeting strategies to reduce it. Developing an infrastructure for collaborative quality improvement in paediatric cardiac critical care holds promise for developing benchmarks of quality, to reduce preventable mortality and morbidity, optimise the long-term health of patients with critical congenital cardiovascular disease, and reduce unnecessary resource utilisation in the cardiac intensive care unit environment. The Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC4) has been modelled after successful collaborative quality improvement initiatives, and is positioned to provide the data platform necessary to realise these objectives. We describe the development of PC4 including the philosophical, organisational, and infrastructural components that will facilitate collaborative quality improvement in paediatric cardiac critical care.

Neurodevelopmental impairment is increasingly recognised as a potentially disabling outcome of CHD and formal evaluation is recommended for high-risk patients. However, data are lacking regarding the proportion of eligible children who actually receive neurodevelopmental evaluation, and barriers to follow-up are unclear. We examined the prevalence and risk factors associated with failure to attend neurodevelopmental follow-up clinic after infant cardiac surgery. Survivors of infant (<1 year) cardiac surgery at our institution (4/2011-3/2014) were included. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were evaluated in neurodevelopmental clinic attendees and non-attendees in univariate and multivariable analyses. A total of 552 patients were included; median age at surgery was 2.4 months, 15% were premature, and 80% had moderate-severe CHD. Only 17% returned for neurodevelopmental evaluation, with a median age of 12.4 months. In univariate analysis, non-attendees were older at surgery, had lower surgical complexity, fewer non-cardiac anomalies, shorter hospital stay, and lived farther from the surgical center. Non-attendee families had lower income, and fewer were college graduates or had private insurance. In multivariable analysis, lack of private insurance remained independently associated with non-attendance (adjusted odds ratio 1.85, p=0.01), with a trend towards significance for distance from surgical center (adjusted odds ratio 2.86, p=0.054 for ⩾200 miles). The majority of infants with CHD at high risk for neurodevelopmental dysfunction evaluated in this study are not receiving important neurodevelopmental evaluation. Efforts to remove financial/insurance barriers, increase access to neurodevelopmental clinics, and better delineate other barriers to receipt of neurodevelopmental evaluation are needed.

The study of psychological well-being and related resilient outcomes is of increasing focus in cardiovascular research. Despite the critical importance of psychological well-being and related resilient outcomes in promoting optimal cardiac health, there have been very few psychological interventions directed towards children with heart disease. This paper describes the development and theoretical framework of the WE BEAT Wellbeing Education Program, a group-based psychoeducation and coping skills training intervention designed to improve psychological well-being and resilience in adolescents with paediatric heart disease. Program development was informed by patient and family needs and input gathered via large, international survey methods as well as qualitative investigation, a theoretical framework, and related resilience intervention research. An overview of the WE BEAT intervention components and structure of the programme is provided. The WE BEAT Wellbeing Education Program was developed as one of the first resiliency-focused interventions in paediatric heart disease with an overall objective to foster positive psychological well-being and resilient outcomes through a health promotion and prevention lens in an accessible format while providing access to safe, peer-to-peer community building. Feasibility pilot results are forthcoming. Future directions include mobile app-based delivery and larger-scale efficacy and implementation trials.

Introduction Chylothorax after paediatric cardiac surgery incurs significant morbidity; however, a detailed understanding that does not rely on single-centre or administrative data is lacking. We described the present clinical epidemiology of postoperative chylothorax and evaluated variation in rates among centres with a multicentre cohort of patients treated in cardiac ICU. This was a retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected clinical data from the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium registry. All postoperative paediatric cardiac surgical patients admitted from October, 2013 to September, 2015 were included. Risk factors for chylothorax and association with outcomes were evaluated using multivariable logistic or linear regression models, as appropriate, accounting for within-centre clustering using generalised estimating equations. A total of 4864 surgical hospitalisations from 15 centres were included. Chylothorax occurred in 3.8% (n=185) of hospitalisations. Case-mix-adjusted chylothorax rates varied from 1.5 to 7.6% and were not associated with centre volume. Independent risk factors for chylothorax included age <1 year, non-Caucasian race, single-ventricle physiology, extracardiac anomalies, longer cardiopulmonary bypass time, and thrombosis associated with an upper-extremity central venous line (all p<0.05). Chylothorax was associated with significantly longer duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation, cardiac ICU and hospital length of stay, and higher in-hospital mortality (all p<0.001). Chylothorax after cardiac surgery in children is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. A five-fold variation in chylothorax rates was observed across centres. Future investigations should identify centres most adept at preventing and managing chylothorax and disseminate best practices.

The National Pediatric Cardiology Quality Improvement Collaborative (NPC-QIC) lacks a rigorous enrollment audit process, unlike other collaborative networks. Most centers require individual families to consent to participate. It is unknown whether there is variation across centers or biases in enrollment. We used the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium (PC ) registry to assess enrollment rates in NPC-QIC for those centers participating in both registries using indirect identifiers (date of birth, date of admission, gender, and center) to match patient records. All infants born 1/1/2018-12/31/2020 and admitted 30 days of life were eligible. In PC , all infants with a fundamental diagnosis of hypoplastic left heart or variant or who underwent a surgical or hybrid Norwood or variant were eligible. Standard descriptive statistics were used to describe the cohort and center match rates were plotted on a funnel chart. Of 898 eligible NPC-QIC patients, 841 were linked to 1,114 eligible PC patients (match rate 75.5%) in 32 centers. Match rates were lower in patients of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity (66.1%, p = 0.005), and those with any specified chromosomal abnormality (57.4%, p = 0.002), noncardiac abnormality (67.8%, p = 0.005), or any specified syndrome (66.5%, p = 0.001). Match rates were lower for patients who transferred to another hospital or died prior to discharge. Match rates varied from 0 to 100% across centers. It is feasible to match patients between the NPC-QIC and PC registries. Variation in match rates suggests opportunities for improvement in NPC-QIC patient enrollment.