Socioeconomic Factors Influencing Pediatric Peak Oxygen Consumption Prediction.

OBJECTIVE: To determine if socioeconomic status (SES) has a greater effect than standard demographic values on predicted peak oxygen consumption (pVO2). STUDY DESIGN: We conducted a single-institution, retrospective analysis of maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) data from 2010 to 2020 for healthy patients age <19 years with body mass index (BMI) percentile (BMI%) between 5-95. Data were sorted by self-identified race, BMI%, and adjusted gross income (AGI); AGI served as a surrogate for SES. Mean percent predicted pVO2 (pppVO2) was compared between groups. Linear regression was used to adjust for differences. RESULTS: A total of 541 CPETs met inclusion criteria. Mean pppVO2 was 97% ± 22.6 predicted (P < .01) with 30% below criterion standard for normal (85% predicted). After excluding unknown AGI and race, 418 CPETs remained. Mean pppVO2 was lower for Blacks (n = 36) and Latinx (n = 26) compared with Whites (n = 333, P < .01). Mean pppVO2 declined as AGI decreased (P < .01). The differences in pppVO2 between racial categories remained significant when adjusted for BMI% (Black r = -7.3, P = .035; Latinx r = -15.4, P < .01). These differences both decreased in magnitude and were no longer significant when adjusted for AGI (Black r = -6.0, P = .150; Latinx r = -9.3, P = .06). CONCLUSIONS: Lower SES correlates with lower measured cardiovascular fitness and may confound data interpretation. When using normative reference ranges in clinical decision making, providers should recognize that social determinants of health may influence predicted fitness. Social inequities should be considered when assessing pediatric cardiovascular fitness.

Implementation of the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement CHD standard set in patients undergoing pulmonary valve replacement.

BACKGROUND: Despite the burden of CHD, a high cost and utilization condition, an implementation of long-term outcome measures is lacking. The objective of this study is to pilot the implementation of the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement CHD standard set in patients undergoing pulmonary valve replacement, a procedure performed in mostly well patients with diverse CHD. METHODS: Patients ≥ 8 years old undergoing catheterization-based pulmonary valve replacement were approached via various approaches for patient-reported outcomes, with a follow-up assessment at 3 months post-procedure. Implementation strategy analysis was performed via a hybrid type 2 design. RESULTS: Of the 74 patients undergoing pulmonary valve replacement, 32 completed initial patient-reported outcomes with variable response rates by strategy (email and in-person explanation 100%, email only 54%, and email followed by text/call 64%). Ages ranged 8-67 years (mean 30). Pre-procedurally, 34% had symptomatic arrhythmias, which improved post-procedure. For those in school, 43% missed ≥ 6 days per year, and over half had work absenteeism. Financial concerns were reported in 34%. Patients reported high satisfaction with life (50% [n = 16]) and health-related quality of life (90% [n = 26]). Depression symptoms were reported in 84% (n = 27) and anxiety in 62.5% (n = 18), with tendency towards improvement post-procedurally. CONCLUSION: Pilot implementation of the International Consortium of Health Outcomes Measurement CHD standard set in pulmonary valve replacement patients reveals a significant burden of disease not previously reported. Barriers to the implementation include a sustainable, automated system for patient-reported outcome collection and infrastructure to assess in real time. This provides an example of implementing cardiac outcomes set in clinical practice.

Screening and diagnostic imaging at centres performing congenital heart surgery in middle-income countries.

BACKGROUND: Surgical care for CHD is increasingly available in low- and middle-income countries, and efforts to optimise outcomes are growing. This study characterises cardiac imaging and prenatal diagnosis infrastructure in this setting. METHODS: An infrastructure survey was administered to sites participating in the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for CHD. Questions regarding transthoracic, transesophageal and epicardial echocardiography, cardiac CT, cardiac magnetic resonance, prenatal screening and fetal echocardiography were included. Associations with in-hospital and 30-day mortality were assessed. RESULTS: Thirty-seven sites in 17 countries responded. Programme size and geography varied considerably: < 250 cases (n = 13), 250-500 cases (n = 9), > 500 cases (n = 15); Americas (n = 13), Asia (n = 18), and Eastern Europe (n = 6). All had access to transthoracic echo. Most reported transesophageal and epicardial echocardiography availability (86 and 89%, respectively). Most (81%) had cardiac CT, but only 54% had cardiac magnetic resonance. A third reported impediments to imaging, including lack of portable machines, age/size-appropriate equipment and advanced cardiac imaging access and training. Only 19% of centres reported universal prenatal CHD screening in their catchment area, and only 46% always performed fetal echocardiography if screening raised concern for CHD. No statistically significant associations were identified between imaging modality availability and surgical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Although access to echocardiography is available in most middle-income countries; advanced imaging modalities (cardiac CT and magnetic resonance) are not always accessible. Prenatal screening for CHD is low, and availability of fetal echocardiography is limited. Imaging infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries and associations with outcomes merits additional study.

Advocacy at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries. For information about the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, please visit the following website: [www.WCPCCS2023.org]. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the activities related to global health and advocacy that will occur at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.Acknowledging the need for urgent change, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring a common voice to the global community and issue the Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. A copy of this Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is provided in the Appendix of this manuscript. This Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the global burden, promoting the development of sustainable care systems, and improving access to high quality and equitable healthcare for children with heart disease as well as adults with congenital heart disease worldwide.

Early extubation strategy after congenital heart surgery: 1-year single-centre experience.

INTRODUCTION: Our aim was to present the initial experience with a protocol-driven early extubation strategy and to identify risk factors associated with failed spontaneous breathing trials within 12 hours after surgery. METHODS: A single institutional retrospective study of children up to 18 years of age was conducted in post-operative cardiac surgical patients over a 1-year period. A daily spontaneous breathing trial protocol was used to assess patients' readiness for extubation. The study population (n = 129) was stratified into two age groups: infants (n = 84) and children (n = 45), and further stratified according to ventilation time: early extubation (ventilation time less than 12 h, n = 86) and deferred extubation (ventilation time more than 12 h, n = 43). Mann-Whitney U-test and binomial logistic regression were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Early extubated infants had shorter ICU (4 versus 6 days, p = 0.003) and hospital length of stays (16 versus 19 days, p = 0.006), lower re-intubation rates (1 versus 7 patients, p = 0.003), and lower mortality (0 versus. 4 patients, p = 0.01) than deferred extubated infants. There was no significant difference in the studied outcomes in the children group. Malnourished infants and longer cardiopulmonary bypass times were independently associated with failed spontaneous breathing trials within 12 hours after cardiac surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Early extubated infants after cardiac surgery had shorter ICU and hospital length of stay, without an increase in morbidity and mortality, compared to infants who deferred extubation. Nutritional status and longer cardiopulmonary bypass times were risk factors for failed spontaneous breathing trial.

Preliminary findings on the use of intravascular ultrasound in the assessment of pediatric pulmonary vein stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: Determine the feasibility of performing intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in pediatric pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS) and investigate whether IVUS can delineate the mechanism of PVS. BACKGROUND: The use of IVUS in pediatric patients with PVS has not been reported. METHODS: Retrospective, single center, cohort analysis of all patients who underwent IVUS of pulmonary veins from August 2016 to December 2019. RESULTS: IVUS was performed on 81 pulmonary veins in 50 pediatric patients (median age = 1.7 years [0.9, 3.1], median weight = 8.6 kg [7.3, 11.8]). All veins accepted the IVUS catheter (.014 or .018), with adequate visualization in 88% (71/81) of imaged veins, and improvement in visualization in the more recent period (23/24; 96%). Veins were categorized as having presumed intimal thickening (PIT) with luminal narrowing (n = 36), ostial narrowing without PIT (n = 14), distortion/compression (n = 6), normal (n = 2), and stent with (n = 9) or without in-stent stenosis (n = 4). In veins with at least 6 months of follow up, (re)intervention occurred more commonly in veins with PIT (14/19; 74%) versus veins without PIT (3/13; 23%; p = 0.01). There were no IVUS related adverse events. CONCLUSION: IVUS can be used safely in pediatric patients and can reliably demonstrate vein lumen and wall architecture. With further refinement, IVUS has the potential to differentiate intimal neo-proliferation from other mechanisms of obstruction. The exact role of IVUS in the assessment of pediatric PVS is yet to be determined.

Pilot phase experience of the International Quality Improvement Collaborative catheterization registry.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the development of a quality collaborative for congenital cardiac catheterization centers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) including pilot study data and a novel procedural efficacy measure. BACKGROUND: Absence of congenital cardiac catheterization registries in LMICs led to the development of the International Quality Improvement Collaborative Congenital Heart Disease Catheterization Registry (IQIC-CHDCR). As a foundation for this initiative, the IQIC is a collaboration of pediatric cardiac surgical programs from LMICs. Participation in IQIC has been associated with improved patient outcomes. METHODS: A web-based registry was designed through a collaborative process. A pilot study was conducted from October through December 2017 at seven existing IQIC sites. Demographic, hemodynamic, and adverse event data were obtained and a novel tool to assess procedural efficacy was applied to five specific procedures. Procedural efficacy was categorized using ideal, adequate, and inadequate. RESULTS: A total of 429 cases were entered. Twenty-five adverse events were reported. The five procedures for which procedural efficacy was measured represented 48% of cases (n = 208) and 71% had complete data for analysis (n = 146). Procedure efficacy was ideal most frequently in patent ductus arteriosus (95%) and atrial septal defect (90%) device closure, and inadequate most frequently in coarctation procedures (100%), and aortic and pulmonary valvuloplasties (50%). CONCLUSIONS: The IQIC-CHDCR has designed a feasible collaborative to capture catheterization data in LMICs. The novel tool for procedural efficacy will provide valuable means to identify areas for quality improvement. This pilot study and lessons learned culminated in the full launch of the IQIC-CHDCR.

American College of Cardiology Body Mass Index Counseling Quality Improvement Initiative.

Overweight/obesity, prevalent cardiovascular risk factors in children, can be associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes in children with heart disease. The American College of Cardiology (ACC) developed quality metrics including a BMI metric related to identifying and counseling overweight and obese children presenting to cardiology clinics. This metric was used for a multicenter collaborative learning Quality improvement (QI) Project through the ACC Quality Network (QNet). Our aim was to increase the percentage of children between ages 3 and 18 years presenting to cardiology clinics at participating centers with BMI > 85th percentile who received appropriate counseling. Participating centers submitted data quarterly to QNet for a sample of patients who received counseling. A Key Driver Diagram was created to help teams drive improvement. Individual centers customized interventions and participated in network-wide educational learning sessions about QI and shared experience. Statistical process control charts were used. From 04/01/2017 to 09/30/2019, 27,511 patient visits were included. Among 32 participating centers, overall counseling rate was 54%. The BMI counseling rate increased from 25% in 2017Q2 to 54% in 2019Q3. There was a wide variation from 10 to 100% in the performance of individual centers. The overall rate of identification and counseling of overweight and obese children presenting to ambulatory cardiology clinics in participating centers is low. There is wide variation in the performance of centers, providing an opportunity for improvement. Using this multicenter learning approach, individual centers have demonstrated improvement. This demonstrates that collaborative learning approaches in QI can increase implementation of the metric.

Systemic Sirolimus to Prevent In-Stent Stenosis in Pediatric Pulmonary Vein Stenosis.

Evaluate the efficacy of systemic sirolimus (rapamycin) in preventing in-stent stenosis (ISS) in pediatric intraluminal pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS). Report the adverse events related to sirolimus therapy. There is a high incidence of ISS following stent implantation in PVS. The use of sirolimus in preventing ISS has not been reported. Retrospective review of all patients who received sirolimus (8 week course) for treatment of ISS for PVS between January 2013 and June 2018. Forty stents (37 bare metal, 3 drug-eluting) in 20 patients were treated with sirolimus; 20 at the time of implantation (primary prevention [1P]) and 20 following documented ISS requiring transcatheter reintervention (secondary prevention [2P]). Treated patients were young (median 2 y/o [0.7-5.7]) and most had PVS associated with congenital heart disease (75%, 15/20; 4/15 with TAPVC). In the 1P group, 85% (17/20) of stents were without significant (< 50%) ISS at median of 102 days (range 56-527); the growth rate of ISS in this group was 7.5 ± 7.1%/month. In the 2P group, most stents had a slower growth rate of ISS after sirolimus therapy compared to pre-treatment (median 3.7 [- 0.2 to 13.1] vs. 10.4 [1.3 to 19.5] %/month; p < 0.001). One patient developed pneumonia on drug while concurrently taking another immunosuppressive agent. No other serious adverse events were related to sirolimus therapy. Systemic sirolimus slows the growth rate of ISS following stent implantation in PVS compared to pre-treatment rates and was administered safely in a small number of pediatric patients with complex heart disease.

Adult congenital cardiac life-long needs evaluation in a low-middle income country, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: Adult congenital heart diseases (ACHD) have distinct health care needs that require life-long care. Limited data is available from low-middle income countries (LMIC). This descriptive study conducted in Pakistan, aimed to assess patients and health care professionals understanding of the needs for ACHD care and the perceived barriers to care. METHODS: A telephone survey was conducted of ACHD patients. An e mail survey was sent to the paediatric and adult cardiologists of five institutions (3 public and 2 private) that provide ACHD services in Pakistan. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean ± SD, median) were used for data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 128 ACHD patients were surveyed, 65 (51%) were females with a mean age of 29.4±10.4 years. Atrial septal defect repair was the most common surgical procedure. Mean age at surgery was 25.6±10.49 years, and a surgical follow-up period of 3.8±2.3 years. Majority (n=3, 60%) of the health care professionals (HCPs) responded that 75-100% of the ACHD surgical patients would need lifelong care, yet 10-25% return to their cardiology clinics. Most of the surveyed ACHD patients (89%, n=114) demonstrated a lack of understanding of life-long care after surgery due to not being communicated by their HCPs. Cost and travelling issues were the barriers highlighted by HCPs. Both ACHD patients (96%, n=122) and HCP (100%, n=5) underscored their interest in life long care. CONCLUSIONS: Majority of ACHD patients in Pakistan did not know that life-long follow-up is needed. Education regarding lifelong care for ACHD patients was identified as a means to alleviate the knowledge gap.

Experience participating in the American College of Cardiology Quality NetworkTM: paediatric and adult congenital cardiology collaborative quality improvement.

BACKGROUND: The American College of Cardiology Quality Network enables national benchmarking and collaborative quality improvement through vetted metrics. We describe here our initial experience with the Quality Network. METHODS: Quarterly data for metrics pertaining to chest pain, Kawasaki disease, tetralogy of Fallot, elevated body mass index, and others were shared with the collaboratives for benchmarking. National improvement efforts focussed on counselling for elevated body mass index and 22q11.2 testing in tetralogy of Fallot. Improvement strategies included developing multi-disciplinary workgroups, educational materials, and electronic health record advances. RESULTS: Chest pain metric performance was high compared with national means: obtaining family history (90-100% versus 51-77%), electrocardiogram (100% versus 89-99%), and echocardiogram for exertional complaints (95-100% versus 74-96%). Kawasaki metric performance was high, including obtaining coronary measurements (100% versus 85-97%), prescribing aspirin (100% versus 86-99%), follow-up with imaging (100% versus 85-98%), and documenting no activity restriction without coronary aneurysms (83-100% versus 64-93%). Counselling for elevated body mass index was variable (25-75% versus 31-50%) throughout quality improvement efforts. Testing for 22q11.2 deletion in tetralogy of Fallot patients was consistently above the national mean (60-85% versus 54-68%) with improved genetics data capture. CONCLUSION: The Quality Network promotes meaningful benchmarking and collaborative quality improvement. Our high performance for chest pain and Kawasaki metrics is likely related to previous improvement efforts in chest pain management and a dedicated Kawasaki team. Uptake of counselling for elevated body mass index is variable; stronger engagement among numerous providers is needed. Recommendations for 22q11.2 testing in tetralogy of Fallot were widely recognised and implemented.

Adjunct Targeted Biologic Inhibition Agents to Treat Aggressive Multivessel Intraluminal Pediatric Pulmonary Vein Stenosis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of imatinib mesylate with or without bevacizumab targeting neoproliferative myofibroblast-like cells with tyrosine kinase receptor expression, as adjuncts to modern interventional therapies for the treatment of multivessel intraluminal pulmonary vein stenosis (PVS). We describe the 48- and 72-week outcomes among patients receiving imatinib mesylate with or without bevacizumab for multivessel intraluminal PVS. STUDY DESIGN: This single-arm, prospective, open-label US Food and Drug Administration approved trial enrolled patients with ≥2 affected pulmonary veins after surgical or catheter-based relief of obstruction between March 2009 and December 2014. Drug therapy was discontinued at 48 weeks, or after 24 weeks of stabilization, whichever occurred later. RESULTS: Among 48 enrolled patients, 5 had isolated PVS, 26 congenital heart disease, 5 lung disease, and 12 both. After the 72-week follow-up, 16 patients had stabilized, 27 had recurred locally without stabilization, and 5 had progressed. Stabilization was associated with the absence of lung disease (P = .03), a higher percentage of eligible drug doses received (P = .03), and was not associated with age, diagnosis, disease laterality, or number of veins involved. Survival to 72 weeks was 77% (37 of 48). Adverse events were common (n = 1489 total), but only 16 were definitely related to drug treatment, none of which were serious. CONCLUSION: Survival to 72 weeks was 77% in a referral population with multivessel intraluminal PVS undergoing multimodal treatment, including antiproliferative tyrosine kinase blockade. Toxicity specific to tyrosine kinase blockade was minimal.

Impact of a Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plan (SCAMP®) on growth in infants with CHD.

BACKGROUND: Growth failure is prevalent among infants with CHD. A Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plan was introduced at Boston Children's Hospital's cardiac medical ward to identify patients with growth failure, evaluate relevant contributing conditions, and recommend a management plan including collaboration with nutrition physicians. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether enrolled patients had improved growth compared with historical controls. METHODS: A total of 29 patients were enrolled in the period July, 2013-June, 2014. In all, 42 historical controls who met eligibility criteria for enrolment were selected for comparison from patients admitted to the same ward in the period June, 2010-June, 2011. Patients with CHD aged <1 year , with growth failure defined as weight-for-age z-score <-2, or failure to sustain adequate weight gain were eligible for participation. Primary outcome was change in weight-for-age z-score from enrolment to most recent weight measurement among patients with at least 6 months of follow-up. RESULTS: Control patients were older at baseline admission weight (118 versus 95 days, p=0.33), and had a higher weight-for-age z-score, -2.9 (-3.1, -2.6) versus -3.7 (-4.3, -3.0) (p=0.02), compared with enrolled patients. Enrolled patients had greater gain in weight-for-age z-score, 2.7 (2.0, 3.4) versus 1.8 (1.5, 2.2) (p=0.03), from baseline to most recent follow-up. CONCLUSION: Patients enrolled in a nutrition-focused protocol had greater weight improvement than historical controls. Identification of growth failure and collaboration with a nutrition support team was associated with improved weight gain among CHD patients experiencing growth failure. CHD programmes should consider a structural approach, including nutrition expertise to address growth failure.

Congenital Heart Defects in the United States: Estimating the Magnitude of the Affected Population in 2010.

BACKGROUND: Because of advancements in care, there has been a decline in mortality from congenital heart defects (CHDs) over the past several decades. However, there are no current empirical data documenting the number of people living with CHDs in the United States. Our aim was to estimate the CHD prevalence across all age groups in the United States in the year 2010. METHODS: The age-, sex-, and severity-specific observed prevalence of CHDs in Québec, Canada, in the year 2010 was assumed to equal the CHD prevalence in the non-Hispanic white population in the United States in 2010. A race-ethnicity adjustment factor, reflecting differential survival between racial-ethnic groups through 5 years of age for individuals with a CHD and that in the general US population, was applied to the estimated non-Hispanic white rates to derive CHD prevalence estimates among US non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics. Confidence intervals for the estimated CHD prevalence rates and case counts were derived from a combination of Taylor series approximations and Monte Carlo simulation. RESULTS: We estimated that ≈2.4 million people (1.4 million adults, 1 million children) were living with CHDs in the United States in 2010. Nearly 300 000 of these individuals had severe CHDs. CONCLUSIONS: Our estimates highlight the need for 2 important efforts: planning for health services delivery to meet the needs of the growing population of adults with CHD and the development of surveillance data across the life span to provide empirical estimates of the prevalence of CHD across all age groups in the United States.

International quality improvement initiatives.

Across the globe, the implementation of quality improvement science and collaborative learning has positively affected the care and outcomes for children born with CHD. These efforts have advanced the collective expertise and performance of inter-professional healthcare teams. In this review, we highlight selected quality improvement initiatives and strategies impacting the field of cardiovascular care and describe implications for future practice and research. The continued leveraging of technology, commitment to data transparency, focus on team-based practice, and recognition of cultural norms and preferences ensure the success of sustainable models of global collaboration.

Adjusting for Risk Associated With Pediatric and Congenital Cardiac Catheterization: A Report From the NCDR IMPACT Registry.

BACKGROUND: As US health care increasingly focuses on outcomes as a means for quantifying quality, there is a growing demand for risk models that can account for the variability of patients treated at different hospitals so that equitable comparisons between institutions can be made. We sought to apply aspects of prior risk-standardization methodology to begin development of a risk-standardization tool for the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) IMPACT (Improving Pediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment) Registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: Using IMPACT, we identified all patients undergoing diagnostic or interventional cardiac catheterization between January 2011 and March 2013. Multivariable hierarchical logistic regression was used to identify patient and procedural characteristics predictive of experiencing a major adverse event after cardiac catheterization. A total of 19,608 cardiac catheterizations were performed between January 2011 and March 2013. Among all cases, a major adverse event occurred in 378 of all cases (1.9%). After multivariable adjustment, 8 variables were identified as critical for risk standardization: patient age, renal insufficiency, single-ventricle physiology, procedure-type risk group, low systemic saturation, low mixed venous saturation, elevated systemic ventricular end-diastolic pressure, and elevated main pulmonary artery pressures. The model had good discrimination (C statistic, 0.70), confirmed by bootstrap validation (validation C statistic, 0.69). CONCLUSIONS: Using prior risk-standardization efforts as a foundation, we developed and internally validated a model to predict the occurrence of a major adverse event after cardiac catheterization for congenital heart disease. Future efforts should be directed toward further refinement of the model variables within this large, multicenter data set.

Development and psychometric characteristics of the pediatric inpatient experience survey (PIES).

OBJECTIVE: To study the psychometric properties of the Pediatric Inpatient Experience Survey (PIES), a mail and phone survey for parent reporting of family-centered aspects of inpatient care experiences. DESIGN: Two waves of cross-sectional survey data were collected by mail and phone in 2009 to design a measurement instrument with good psychometric characteristics. Additional cross-sectional data from a mail administration in 2011 confirmed the measurement domains. SETTING: Free-standing pediatric hospital in the northeastern USA. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of English-speaking parents of hospitalized children, stratified by patient type (medical versus surgical) and previous stays at this hospital (yes versus no), constituted the instrument design phase. Four hundred and seventy-nine (63%) of those approached agreed to participate and were randomly assigned to mail or phone survey administration. Four hundred and one of these respondents completed the first wave of the survey and 354 respondents completed the second wave. A shortened instrument was mailed to parents randomly selected from patient discharge records. Data from 929 parents (response rate: 36.2%) were used for confirmatory analysis of the created measurement domains. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures of this psychometric validation study were individual item performance, test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity. RESULTS: The resulting survey includes 61 items with 35 rating items with satisfactory test-retest reliability loading on eight domains. The factor structure was supported by Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis. The survey supported construct validity in distinguishing between medical versus surgical and first time versus previous hospital stay groups known to differ with regard to satisfaction. Comparing mail and phone administrations, differences in scores were exacerbated in domain scores and showed the need for mode adjustment. CONCLUSION: PIES shows satisfactory test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and construct validity. A new domain measuring emotional connectedness to staff and the hospital is highly correlated with overall satisfaction.

Characteristics and safety of interventions and procedures performed during catheterisation of patients with congenital heart disease: early report from the national cardiovascular data registry.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to report procedural characteristics and adverse events on the data collected in the IMproving Paediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment registry. BACKGROUND: The IMproving Paediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment- registry is a catheterisation registry focussed on paediatric and adult patients with congenital heart disease who are undergoing diagnostic catheterisations and catheter-based interventions. This study reports procedural characteristics and adverse events of patients who have undergone selected catheterisation procedures from January, 2011 to June, 2013. METHODS: Demographic, clinical, procedural, and institutional data elements were collected at participating centres and entered via either a web-based platform or software provided by the American College of Cardiology-certified vendors, and were collected in a secure, centralised database. For the purpose of this study, procedures that were not classified as one of the 'core' IMproving Paediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment procedures originally chosen for additional data collection were identified and selected for further data analysis. RESULTS: During the time frame of data collection, a total of 8021 cases were classified as other procedures and/or multiple procedures. The most commonly performed case types - isolated or in combination with other procedures - were right ventricular biopsy in 3433 (42.8%), conduit/MPA interventions in 979 (12.3%), and systemic pulmonary artery collateral occlusion in 601 (7.5%). For the whole cohort, adverse events of any severity occurred in 957 (12.0%) cases, whereas major adverse events occurred in 113 (1.4%) cases; six patients (0.1%) died in the catheterisation laboratory. CONCLUSIONS: The IMproving Paediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment registry has provided important data on the frequency and spectrum of cardiac catheterisation procedures performed in the present era. For many procedures, more data and work are needed to identify more subtle differences between case categories, especially as it relates to the incidence of major adverse events, and to further develop a risk-adjustment methodology to allow equitable comparisons among institutions.

Procedural characteristics and adverse events in diagnostic and interventional catheterisations in paediatric and adult CHD: initial report from the IMPACT Registry.

OBJECTIVES: To report procedural characteristics and adverse events on data collected in the registry. BACKGROUND: The IMPACT--IMproving Paediatric and Adult Congenital Treatment--Registry is a catheterisation registry of paediatric and adult patients with CHD undergoing diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterisation. We are reporting the procedural characteristics and adverse events of patients undergoing diagnostic and interventional catheterisation procedures from January, 2011 to March, 2013. METHODS: Demographic, clinical, procedural, and institutional data elements were collected at the participating centres and entered via either a web-based platform or software provided by American College of Cardiology-certified vendors, and were collected in a secure, centralised database. Centre participation was voluntary. RESULTS: During the time frame of data collection, 19,797 procedures were entered into the IMPACT Registry. Procedures were classified as diagnostic only (35.4%); one of six specific interventions (23.8%); other or multiple interventions (40.7%); and were further broken down into four age groups. Anaesthesia was used in 84.1% of diagnostic procedures and 87.8% of interventional ones. Adverse events occurred in 10.0% of diagnostic and 11.1% of interventional procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The IMPACT Registry is gathering data to set national benchmarks for diagnostic and certain specific interventional procedures. We are seeing little differences in procedural characteristics or adverse events in diagnostic procedures compared with interventional procedures overall, but there is significant variation in adverse events amongst age categories. Risk stratification and patient acuity scores will be required for further analysis of these differences.