Congratulations to Emily Ertel and Jennifer Ham for representing HALO on April 2 at the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) poster presentations at the University of Ottawa. Emily presented data on the motor development of toddlers with cardiac conditions and innocent murmurs. Jennifer presented a systematic review of mental health among adolescents with life threatening cardiac arrhythmias. Details of the presentations are below.
Impact of Innocent Heart Murmur and Congenital Heart Defects on the Motor Development of Young Children.
Emily Ertel, Natasha Cinanni, Kristi Adamo, Nick Barrowman, Mark Tremblay, Brian Timmons, Rejane Dillenburg, Ganesh Shanmugam, Patricia Longmuir.
Key findings: Diagnosis/treatment history was significantly associated with gross motor and overall motor development scores but not fine motor skills. Older children (3 years of age) were more likely to have delayed motor development relative to healthy peers compared to younger children (1 or 2 years of age). Children with innocent heart murmurs were the only group to score significantly below normative scores for the healthy population.
The Mental Health of Adolescents Living with Potentially Fatal Arrhythmia: A Systematic Review of the Literature.
Jennifer Ham, Margaret Sampson, Robert Gow, Makenzie Weekes, Bhavika Patel, Patricia Longmuir.
Key findings: Many more patients had anxiety and depression than adolescents without cardiac arrhythmia but most were not severe enough to require immediate clinical referral. Adolescents have more difficulty adapting and coping than younger children. Existing studies are cross-sectional observations. No research has been done to intervene and support the mental health of adolescents with cardiac arrhythmia.
