Welcome to the Healthy CHD website which focuses on helping teens and their parents transition smoothly from pediatric CHD health care into adult CHD health care.
Hey Teens, check out our new INTERACTIVE menu item just for you with what you want to know about CHD!
Some facts about transitioning into adult CHD care:
- Roughly half of all pediatric and teen CHD patients fail to transition to adult cardiology care. Not having continued medical care can lead to more complex complications, emotional stress and increased financial expenses.
- Patients who seek cardiology care after a lapse in care are more likely to require urgent interventions, surgical procedures and have other cardiac-related medical conditions. Furthermore, hospital admissions through the Emergency Department may increase in teens and young adults who have lapses in care.
- For many patients with CHD, transitioning to an adult cardiologist can be difficult. A variety of reasons have been identified including difficulties with health insurance, negative experiences in adult care, lack of available and local qualified specialty physicians, and lack of patient education about their condition and the need for long-term routine follow-up care.
- The age group that most frequently drops out of medical care are those who are 19-20 years old; common reasons reported include that the patient ‘felt well’ or was unaware of the need for the continued follow-up.