Congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease is a general term used to refer to a series of birth defects that affect the heart.

Symptoms

As stated in the introduction, the two main types of congenital heart disease are:

cyanotic heart disease acyanotic heart disease


The symptoms of cyanotic heart disease include:

a blue coloured tinge to the lips, fingers and toes (cyanosis) palpitations fainting fatigue chest pains breathing problems

Children with cyanotic heart disease have lower levels of oxygen in their blood, this is known as hypoxia.

Sometimes, their oxygen levels can fall further and cause additional symptoms such as anxiety and confusion or disorientation.


The symptoms of acyanotic heart disease include:

severe tiredness palpitations chest pain shortness of breath (particularly during activities such as climbing the stairs)


There are some symptoms that are present in both cyanotic and acyanotic heart disease.

These include:

poor appetite and feeding difficulties sweating, particularly when a baby is feeding delayed growth

Children with acyanotic heart disease are usually underweight, and children with cyanotic heart disease are usually underweight and small for their age.