García et al. Int J Clin Cardiol 2021, 8:243 Volume 8 | Issue 6 International Journal of Clinical Cardiology Open Access Citaton: García PM, Moure AF, Bendayán IM, Barreiro VB,Núñez FR (2021) Draw your Heart Disease: A Graphic Assessment of the Knowledge of Congenital Heart Disease of Patents and their Parents. Int J Clin Cardiol 8:243. doi.org/10.23937/2378-2951/1410243 Accepted: December 01, 2021: Published: December 03, 2021 Copyright: © 2021 García PM, et al. This is an open-access artcle distributed under the terms of the Creatve Commons Atributon License, which permits unrestricted use, distributon, and reproducton in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. García et al. Int J Clin Cardiol 2021, 8:243 DOI: 10.23937/2378-2951/1410243 ISSN: 2378-2951 • Page 1 of 7 • Draw your Heart Disease: A Graphic Assessment of the Knowledge of Congenital Heart Disease of Patents and their Parents Paula Mariño García 1* , Ángeles Fuertes Moure 2,3 , Isaac Martnez Bendayán 4 , Vanesa Balboa Barreiro 5,6 and Fernando Rueda Núñez 3 1 Department of Pediatrics, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, Spain 2 María José Jove Foundaton, A Coruña, Spain 3 Department of Pediatrics, Secton of Pediatric Cardiology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, Spain 4 Department of Cardiology, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, Spain 5 Research Support Unit, Insttute of Biomedical Research of A Coruña (INIBIC), Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, Spain 6 Hospital Materno Infantl de A Coruña, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña, Spain *Corresponding author: Paula Mariño García, Department of Pediatrics, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de A Coruña (CHUAC), SERGAS, Spain Cornes 50, 15706 Santago de Compostela, Spain, Tel: 0034-669370362 Abstract Introduction: Patients with congenital heart disease are a chronically ill population. Knowledge of the disease is a key factor in promoting an appropriate attitude towards health. The aim of this study is to evaluate the understanding of heart involvement by describing the heart disease and drawing a picture of the heart by patients and parents. Materials and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study over an 8-month period in a tertiary pediatric cardiology center, involving 201 parents and 123 patients, of whom 74 were between 8 and 14-years-old and 49 were older than 14-years-old. A questionnaire was used in which they had to name and describe the disease, and where a blank box was included in which they were asked to draw their congenital heart disease. Results: 68.8% of the patients correctly named their heart disease, however only 32.4% described it adequately and only 3.5% drew a correct picture of it. Divided by age groups, of the patients between 8 and 14-years-old 45.9% named their cardiopathy correctly, 28.2% described it adequately and 4.1% drew a correct picture of it. Of those over 14 years of age, 83.6% correctly named their cardiopathy, 26.5% knew how to describe it and only 2% managed to draw it properly. In the group of parents, 79.1% correctly named their child's congenital heart disease, 45.8% described it adequately and only 3.5% drew a correct picture (p value 0.55). Conclusions: Most parents and patients with congenital heart disease are unaware of fundamental aspects of their heart disease. An efort should be made by the professionals to try to explain congenital heart disease in an illustrative way, in order to achieve a better understanding of the disease and thus optimize the behavior in terms of health. Keywords Congenital heart disease, Parents, Teenagers, Knowledge, Drawings, Quality of life Abbreviations CHD: Congenital Heart Disease DescRIptIve cRoss-sectIoNal stuDy Check for updates Introducton Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) represent about 1% of live newborns [1]. Due to advances in pediatric cardiac care, they are a growing populaton. In recent decades, survival of patents with CHD has increased dramatcally and studies have moved from a focus on survival only to broader functonal and quality of life assessment. Today it is estmated that