The suffering of having a child with a congenital heart defect begins at the time of diagnosis and continues throughout life. Yet specialized mental health care for the children and their families is scarce in the United States.
As of Tuesday, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center will provide that specialized care for babies and children with congenital heart defects and for their families, including parents and siblings and even parents-to-be who receive a prenatal heart diagnosis. The Heart and Mind Wellbeing Center at the hospital is the first of its kind in the United States, hospital officials said.
Cincinnati Children’s started the center as a way to provide comprehensive care consistent with the American Heart Association’s 2022 scientific statement of an unmet need for mental health care in this population.
Dr. Nadine Kasparian, a psychologist at Cincinnati Children’s and director of the new center, was one of the experts involved in research showing that people with congenital heart defects and their families struggle with mental health.
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She said the researchers have mapped “enormous evidence” of the need for mental health care among this population throughout their lives.
“We make a really strong case for the need to integrate psychological services and mental health care,” Kasparian said.
She said mental health care is absolutely necessary and noted:
- In the United States, approximately 40,000 babies are born each year with congenital heart defects.
- Congenital heart defects are the most common birth defects in the United States.
- About 1 in 4 children with these heart defects experience “intense fear, worry, and sadness.”
- About 4 in 5 parents report serious psychological problems when a child is discharged after heart surgery.
- About a quarter undergo at least one surgery in their first year of life, but even with surgery, “there is still no cure for congenital heart disease.”
Kasparian said the center will help patients from birth throughout their lives, using research-proven treatments aimed at improving both their physical and mental health.
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The American Heart Association hopes that the evidence that people with congenital heart defects are at higher risk for anxiety and mood disorders will spur new standards for integrating that care into congenital heart centers.
Kasparian said that by routinely providing care to people with heart defects and their families, the new Heart and Mind Wellbeing Center normalizes and destigmatizes mental health care.