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Red Flags for Maltese Adults with Congenital Heart Disease: Poorer Dental Care and Less Sports Participation Compared to Other European Patients—An APPROACH-IS Substudy

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Abstract

Studies in recent years have explored lifestyle habits and health-risk behaviours in adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) patients when compared to controls. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in lifestyle habits between Maltese and other European ACHD patients. Data on alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, substance misuse, dental care and physical activity collected in 2013–2015 during “Assessment of Patterns of Patient-Reported Outcomes in Adults with Congenital Heart disease-International Study” (APPROACH-IS) were analysed. Responses from 119 Maltese participants were compared to those of 1616 participants from Belgium, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands. Significantly fewer Maltese patients with simple (Maltese 84.1% vs. European 97.5%, p < 0.001) and moderately complex CHD (Maltese 83.6% vs. European 97.4%, p < 0.001) brushed their teeth daily. Only 67.2% of Maltese with moderately complex disease had dental reviews in the previous year compared to 80.3% of Europeans (p = 0.02). Maltese patients with simple (Maltese 31.8% vs. European 56.1%, p = 0.002) and moderately complex lesions (Maltese 30.0% vs. European 59.2%, p < 0.001) performed less regular sport activities. Comparison by country showed Maltese patients to have significantly poorer tooth brushing and sports participation than patients from any other participating country. Alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and substance misuse were not significantly different. This study highlights lifestyle aspects that Maltese ACHD patients need to improve on, which might not be evident upon comparing patients to non-CHD controls. These findings should also caution researchers against considering behaviours among patients in one country as necessarily representative of patients on the larger scale.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Sandra Distefano (Consultant in Public Health Medicine, Directorate for Health Information and Research) for providing national statistics on infective endocarditis. APPROACH-IS consortium: Luis Alday, Héctor Maisuls, Betina Vega (Córdoba, Argentina, Hospital de Niños); Samuel Menahem, Sarah Eaton, Ruth Larion, Qi Feng Wang (Melbourne, Australia, Monash Medical Center); Werner Budts, Kristien Van Deyk (Leuven, Belgium, University Hospitals of Leuven); Silke Apers, Eva Goossens, Jessica Rassart, Koen Luyckx, Philip Moons (Leuven, Belgium, University of Leuven); Gwen Rempel, Andrew Mackie, Ross Ballantyne, Kathryn Rankin, Colleen Norris, Dylan Taylor, Isabelle Vondermuhll, Jonathan Windram, Pamela Heggie, Gerri Lasiuk (Edmonton, Canada, University of Alberta); Paul Khairy, Anna Proietti, Annie Dore, Lise-Andrée Mercier, François-Pierre Mongeon, François Marcotte, Reda Ibrahim, Blandine Mondésert, Marie-Claude Côté (Montreal, Canada, Montreal Heart Institute); Adrienne Kovacs, Erwin Oechslin, Mimi Bandyopadhyay (Toronto, Canada, University Health Network); Alexandra Soufi, Sylvie Di Filippo, François Sassolas, André Bozio (Lyon, France, Hospital Louis Pradel); Shanthi Chidambarathanu, Farida Farzana, Nitya Lakshmi (Chennai, India, Frontier Lifeline Hospital, Dr. K. M. Cherian Heart Foundation); Edward Callus, Emilia Quadri, Massimo Chessa, Giovanna Campioni, Alessandro Giamberti (Milan, Italy, IRCCS Policlinco San Donato Hospital); Junko Enomoto, Yoshiko Mizuno (Chiba, Japan, Chiba Cardiovascular Center); Maryanne Caruana, Victor Grech, Sheena Vella, Anabel Mifsud, Neville Borg, Daniel Chircop, Matthew Mercieca Balbi, Rachel Vella Critien, James Farrugia, Yanika Gatt, Darlene Muscat (Msida, Malta, Mater Dei Hospital); Katrine Eriksen, Mette-Elise Estensen (Oslo, Norway, Oslo University Hospital); Mikael Dellborg, Malin Berghammer (Gothenburg, Sweden, Sahlgrenska University Hospital); Eva Mattson, Anita Strandberg, Pia Karlström-Hallberg (Stockholm, Sweden, Karolinska University Hospital); Bengt Johansson, Anna-Karin Kronhamn (Umeå, Sweden, University Hospital of Umeå); Markus Schwerzmann, Corina Thomet, Margrit Huber (Bern, Switzerland, University Hospital Bern); Jou-Kou Wang, Chun-Wei Lu, Hsiao-Ling Yang, Yu Chuan Hua (Taipei, Taiwan, National Taiwan University Hospital); Barbara Mulder, Maayke Sluman (Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Amsterdam Medical Center); Marco Post (Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, St. Antonius Hospital); Els Pieper (Groningen, the Netherlands, University Medical Center Groningen); Kathinka Peels (Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Catharina Hospital); Marc Waskowsky (Zwolle, the Netherlands, Isala Clinic); Gruschen Veldtman, Michelle Faust, Colin Lozier, Christy Reed, Jamie Hilfer (Cincinnati, USA, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center); Curt Daniels, Jamie Jackson (Columbus, USA, Nationwide Children’s Hospital); Shelby Kutty, Carolyn Chamberlain (Omaha, USA, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center); Stephen Cook, Morgan Hindes (Pittsburgh, USA, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC); Ari Cedars, Kamila White (Saint Louis, USA, Washington University and Barnes Jewish Heart & Vascular Center, University of Missouri); Anitra Rompfh, Susan Fernandes, Kirstie MacMillen (Palo Alto, USA, Stanford University).

Funding

The APPROACH-IS project was supported by the Research Fund—KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium) through grant OT/11/033; by the Swedish Heart–Lung Foundation (Sweden) through Grant No. 20130607; and by the University of Gothenburg Centre for Person-centred Care (Gothenburg, Sweden). In Malta, the work was supported financially by A.M. Mangion Ltd. (Luqa, Malta), Technoline Ltd. (Gzira, Malta) and Cherubino Ltd. (Gzira, Malta) which together covered the costs of printing and posting of the questionnaires.

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Correspondence to Maryanne Caruana.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committees of the participating centres and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Collaborators of the APPROACH-IS consortium and the International Society for Adult Congenital Heart Disease (ISACHD) are listed in “Acknowledgements”.

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Caruana, M., Apers, S., Kovacs, A.H. et al. Red Flags for Maltese Adults with Congenital Heart Disease: Poorer Dental Care and Less Sports Participation Compared to Other European Patients—An APPROACH-IS Substudy. Pediatr Cardiol 38, 965–973 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-017-1604-y

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