Antenatal diagnosis of neonatal congenital heart disease, postnatal follow-up and post-operative follow-up in experienced centers may be useful to avoid long-term complications. We aimed to investigate the cardiac functions, neurological examinations and neurodevelopmental status, growth and development of 3-4-year-old operated congenital cardiac patients.

Twenty five infants with congenital heart disease who were operated on and followed up at the NICU were included in the study. Cardiac functions, neurological examinations, Denver Developmental Screening Test II (DGTT II) and Stanford-Binet test were used to evaluate the neurodevelopmental status of the participants. Seven of the patients (28%) had preoperative sepsis. Patients with abnormal DGTT II evaluation had a higher rate of history of sepsis before the operation, and this difference was statistically significant (p=0.032). The Stanford-Binet test results of the patients with sepsis before the operation were significantly lower than the patients without sepsis (p=0.007). The patients with a higher gestational age at birth and higher birth weight were found to have lower weight, height and head circumference at 3-4 years of age p=0.034, p=0.034, p=0.031, respectively. The occurrence of sepsis attacks before the operation affects the neurological development of the patients with congenital heart disease. Therefore, it is important for patients to take precautionary measures to reduce sepsis prior to the operation, Children who were born at lower gestational weeks and with lower weight may have improved weight as a result of better care and nutrition until 3-4 years of age.

Keywords: newborns, congenital heart defects, neurological development