Infants with congenital heart disease. Food intake, body weight, and energy metabolism
D. M. Huse, R. H. Feldt, R. A. Nelson and L. P. Novak
Growth failure in infants with congenital heart disease was investigated by
studies of food intake, change in body weight, oxygen consumption, carbon
dioxide production, and lean body mass. Infants with congenital heart
disease weighed less initially and gained less weight during observation
than normal infants. The daily intake of calories per kilogram body weight
was inadequate for some infants and considered generally adequate for
others. Lean body mass was normal, and the quantity of oxygen used for
metabolism was similar in both groups. Infants with congenital heart
disease were not found to be hypermetabolic when oxygen consumption was
related to lean body mass. The growth failure seen in these infants appears
to be most appropriately related to inadequate calorie intake rather than
to any other factor studied.
