Health-Promoting Behavior of Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the health-promoting behavior of adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) to that of adolescents without CHD. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from pediatric cardiology outpatient departments at two medical centers in Taiwan. A total of 1209 adolescents, including 316 with various forms of CHD and 893 without CHD, completed the Adolescent Health Promotion (AHP) scale. Of those with CHD, 162 were female, and 12-18 years old. The scores of adolescents with CHD were compared with published normative adolescent data. Results: No significant differences were found between those adolescents with CHD and those without in terms of dimensions of the AHP, which consisted of nutrition, social support, health responsibility, life appreciation, exercise, stress management, and overall health-promoting behavior. The three highest and lowest mean scores of scale items between these two groups were identified. Factors among adolescents with CHD, such as age, gender, parental educational level, and cardiac function were significantly associated with at least one dimension of the AHP. Such significant associations were not indicated when comparing body mass index, medical diagnoses, and whether they had undergone heart surgery. Conclusions: Adolescents with CHD practice health-promoting behavior similar to that of their counterparts without CHD. Health-promotion counseling for adolescents with CHD should be encouraged to improve lifestyle habits, especially to ensure that they engage in adequate and vigorous exercise and practice good dental hygiene.