Acquired Childhood Heart Disease
While people often think of acquired heart disease in adults, it is relatively common in children too. Some of the more common heart conditions acquired during childhood include Kawasaki Disease and Rheumatic Heart Disease.
Kawasaki Disease (KD)
Kawasaki disease (KD) is a relatively uncommon illness that mostly affects children under 5 years of age.
The most serious complication of KD is damage to the coronary arteries, which supply blood to the heart.
If untreated, up to 25% of children with KD develop coronary artery dilation which can damage the coronary arteries and put them at risk of heart disease.
If the symptoms and signs of KD are recognised early and treated with intravenous immunoglobulin, most children make a full recovery and coronary artery complications are prevented or minimised.
KD primarily affects young children. Approximately 75% of patients are under 5 years of age. Older children and more rarely teenagers can also get KD. It is more common in boys than girls.
Kawasaki Disease (KD) is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children.
Symptoms
Early symptoms of Kawasaki Disease include:
- Fever that can last for several days
- Rash, can be over whole body and may be worse in the groin area
- Red eyes – without discharge
- Bright red, swollen, or cracked lips
- Red tongue (strawberry like)
- Swollen hands and feet
- Redness of the palms and soles
- Swollen lymph node in the neck
Children with KD are often very irritable.
Diagnosis
There is no specific test for Kawasaki Disease. Doctors make a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms, physical findings and laboratory tests.
Causes
The cause of Kawasaki Disease is unknown. It is thought that an infection may trigger the condition, but KD is not contagious.
Learn more about Kawasaki Disease
Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD)
Rheumatic heart disease is a serious disease of the heart involving damage to one or more of the four small heart valves. The valve damage can remain after acute rheumatic fever.
During rheumatic fever the heart valve tissue, and sometimes other parts of the heart (the heart lining or muscle) can become swollen and/or inflammed, and this is called carditis.
Following carditis, the heart valves can remain damaged then become scarred, and the result is an interruption to normal blood flow through the damaged valves.
When the heart is damaged in this way, the heart valve is not able to function adequately, and this is called rheumatic heart disease.
A person who has been diagnosed with RHD is required to have a lifelong treatment schedule of antibiotic injections and daily blood-thinning medications. HeartKids works side by side with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled organisations and communities to develop culturally safe and responsive resources aimed at education and prevention of RHD.
RHD has a high impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, especially youth, who are at higher risk due to inadequate housing and inequitable health care.
Many of these young people face a lifelong treatment regime of monthly antibiotic injections and daily blood-thinning medication.
Between 30-40 young people with RHD per year travel from the Northern Territory to The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne for surgery.
Learn more about Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD)
