• O C Thompson Chagoyán, N Reyes Tsubaki, O L Rabiela Barrios, A Buendía Hernández, I Miranda Chávez, and R Carrasco Quintero.
• Servicio de Pediatría, Hospital General de Zona 1A del I.M.S.S.
• Arch Inst Cardiol Mex. 1998 Mar 1;68(2):119-23.

ObjectiveTo know the frequency and type of nutritional alterations of children with congenital heart disease.Material And MethodsSixty six children with congenital heart disease were studied. MEASUREMENTS were: weight, size, mid arm circumference, tricipital and subscapular skinfold thickness. Blood samples for white blood cells count, and albumin were taken and urine was collected for determination of creatinine. Muscular and fat areas of the arm and creatinine/height index were calculated. In order to compare the children with both cyanotic and non-cyanotic types of heart diseases chi 2 test or Fisher's exact test, ware used.Results41 girls and 25 boys, 42 with acyanotic and 24 cyanotic heart disease. 50 children were malnourished (26 compensated, 23 non-compensated and one acute); 16 were normal. 85% of the children presented diminished muscular area and 97% diminished fatty area. The creatinine/height index was diminished in 94% of the cases. No significant differences were demonstrated between both groups.Conclusionchronic malnutrition in children with congenital heart disease is frequent. Most of the cases with malnutrition are compensated. This poor nutritional status is at the expense of fatty and muscular tissues.

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