Cognitive Outcomes and Delirium After Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Program Implementation for Children With Congenital Heart Disease

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A recent advisory from the American Heart Association delineated the potential benefits of developmental care for hospitalized children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and a critical gap in research evaluating the association of such inpatient programs with neurodevelopmental outcomes. To investigate associations between the Cardiac Inpatient Neurodevelopmental Care Optimization (CINCO) program interventions, delirium, and neurodevelopment in young children (newborn through age 2 years) hospitalized with CHD. This cohort study used quality improvement data from inpatient cardiac units at a tertiary care children's hospital in the US. Participants were children aged 0 to 2 years who were admitted for at least 7 days from September 1, 2018, to September 1, 2023. The CINCO program was implemented on September 1, 2020, in 6-month plan-do-study-act phases. The 5 CINCO interventions were medical and/or nursing order panels, developmental kits, bedside developmental plans, caregiver mental health support handouts, and developmental care rounds. Number of days with delirium per patient, which was measured using the Cornell Assessment of Pediatric Delirium (a score higher than 9 indicated delirium). Neurodevelopment was measured using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Fourth Edition (BSID-4). The full sample included 1331 qualifying admissions for 1019 unique pediatric patients (median [range] age at admission, 3.65 [0-34.62] months; 771 males [57.9%]), with a subcohort of 121 unique patients (median [range] age at admission, 0.00 [0-9.85] months; 77 males [63.6%]) whose initial hospitalization occurred before age 10 months and who underwent BSID-4 evaluation at age 12 months or older. The mean (SD) number of days with delirium per patient was stable for 2 years prior to CINCO implementation, decreased by 54.0% between phases 1 and 2 of the CINCO program (from 3.05 [0.60] to 1.38 [0.21]), and then remained stable over time. Each of the 5 CINCO interventions was associated with lower delirium after false discovery rate (FDR) correction (eg, medical and/or nursing order panel: B = -1.376 [95% CI, -1.767 to -0.986]; F2,1273 = 47.767; partial η2 = 0.036; P < .001). Mean (SD) BSID-4 cognitive index scores were stable for 2 years prior to implementation, higher between phases 1 and 2 of the program (from 81.67 [14.14] to 93.92 [19.43]), and then remained stable over time. Four of the 5 interventions were associated with higher BSID-4 cognitive scores after FDR correction (eg, bedside developmental plans: B = 8.585 [95% CI, 2.247-14.923]; F5, 101 = 7.221; partial η2 = 0.067; P = .008). Delirium was associated with lower BSID-4 cognitive scores. There were no associations between delirium and BSID-4 language or motor scores. This cohort study found that among hospitalized children with CHD, the implementation of an inpatient developmental care program was associated with reduced incidence of delirium and higher cognitive scores. Pediatric cardiac centers may consider adopting these low-cost, low-risk, generalizable program interventions.