Self- and proxy-reported impaired social interaction in young adults with simple congenital heart defects.

Background

Simple Congenital Heart Defects such as septal defects constitute a large proportion of Congenital Heart Defects. New research has demonstrated more co-morbidities than previously thought. In particular, co-morbidities involving neurocognitive, psychiatric, and social difficulties have been described. Neurocognitive and psychiatric morbidities affect social interaction. Social interaction is important in everyday social life (education, work life, family life). In this study, we investigated social interaction through self- and proxy-answered Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) in young adults with simple Congenital Heart Defects and compared their social interaction profile to healthy matched controls.

Methods

We included a total of 80 patients with either atrial or ventricular septal defect (age 26.6 years) and 38 heart-healthy, age, sex, and ISCED educational matched controls (age: 25.3 years). A close relative proxy from each participant took part in the study as well. All participants answered the Social Responsiveness Scale 2 (SRS-2) (

Results

In the Congenital Heart Defects group, 31.3% had a Total score above 60 compared to 7.9% in the control group (

Conclusion

We found that young adults with atrial or ventricular septal defects have a fourfold increased risk of social interaction difficulties compared to heart-healthy peers. They have a social interaction profile, with difficulties in social cognition and social motivation, and preserved social awareness and social communication. Psychiatric morbidity explained most of the variation in social interaction problems. As social difficulties and psychiatric morbidities are intertwined, social interaction difficulties could be an indication of already underlying psychiatric morbidities or a risk factor for future psychiatric morbidity.

Informations de copyright

© 2023 Lau-Jensen, Asschenfeldt, Evald and Hjortdal.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.