GROWTH HISTORY OF CHILDREN WITH CONGENITAL HEART DEFECTS. I. EFFECT OF OPERATIVE INTERVENTION

This investigation of the growth history of children with operable congenital cardiac defects has used standard anthropometric techniques involving 5 measures, 5 ratios, skeletal age assessments, and photographs. Reported here are the longitudinal observations on the first 274 children examined over various periods before and after surgery. Both the preoperative and samples differ from the norm in that measurements are somewhat smaller and skeletal maturation is somewhat delayed. As the children approach adolescence, they tend to approach closer to the norm. No marked shift in pattern after surgery has thus far been demonstrated, although where differences exist, they are in the direction of larger measures in the postsurgical group of children.