Performance of 2-year-old children after early surgery for congenital heart disease on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition

BackgroundPrevious research on developmental outcomes of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) has shown delays in both cognitive and motor skills.AimsTo describe outcomes on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition (Bayley-III) for infants with CHD and to compare those findings to published results for similar samples of infants assessed on the 2nd edition of the Bayley Scales (BSID-II).Study designProspective cohort.Participants and outcome measuresOf 50 infants with CHD who participated in this longitudinal study (2006–2008) at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, 47 were assessed on the Bayley-III (median age = 24.5 months), administered by a psychologist or neonatologist. Although neither assessor was blind to the CHD diagnosis, they were unaware of results of previous developmental assessments conducted in this longitudinal study.ResultsFor the Bayley-III cognitive composite score, 17.0% of infants showed mild delays (1–2 SD below the mean), 2.1% had moderate delays (2–3 SD below the mean), and none had severe delays (greater than 3 SD below the mean). Motor composite scores showed mild delays in 10.9% of infants and moderate delays in 2.2%; none had severe motor delays. These findings differ from study results using the BSID-II in similar infants.ConclusionsThe Bayley-III may underestimate developmental delay in 2-year-old children with CHD when compared to results of similar children tested at 12–36 months of age on the BSID-II.