Abstract 14623: Age and Quality of Life in Adults With Congenital Heart Disease Worldwide: Evidence for a Non-Linear Relationship

Objectives: The relationship between age and quality of life (QOL) in congenital heart disease (CHD) is ambiguous. Some studies observed better QOL with increasing age, whereas others found lower QOL among older patients. Furthermore, the association has typically been investigated using linear statistical methods. We aimed to assess the relationship between age and QOL in adults with CHD from a non-linear perspective, by identifying the breakpoints in age at which QOL starts to deteriorate, improve or stabilize across three categories of disease complexity. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we enrolled 4,028 adult CHD patients (median age=32y; 53% women; 26% mild, 48% moderate, 26% complex defects) from 15 countries. A linear analog scale was used to measure QOL, ranging from 0 (worst imaginable QOL) to 100 (best imaginable QOL). Segmented regression analysis, using the SegReg Software, was performed to determine age breakpoints. To investigate the association between age and QOL before and after the ...