Epidemiology of Pediatric Heart Failure in the USA–a 15-Year Multi-Institutional Study

The epidemiology of pediatric heart failure (HF) has been characterized for congenital heart disease (CHD) and cardiomyopathies (CM), but the impact of CM associated with CHD has not been studied. This study aims to describe the characteristics and outcomes of inpatient pediatric HF patients with CHD, CM, and CHD with CM (CHD + CM) across the USA. We included all HF patients with CM diagnoses with and without CHD using ICD 9/10 codes ≤ 19 years old from January 2004 to September 2019 using the Pediatric Health Information System database. We identified 67,349 unique patients ≤ 19 years old with HF, of which 87% had CHD, 7% had CHD + CM, and 6% had CM. Pediatric HF admissions increased significantly from 2004 to 2018 with an associated increase in extracorporeal circulatory support (ECLS) use. Heart transplantation (HTX) increased only in the CHD and CHD + CM groups. CHD patients required less ECLS with and without HTX; however, they had significantly higher inpatient mortality after those procedures than the other groups (p < 0.001). CM patients were older (median 115 months) and had the lowest inpatient mortality after HTX with and without ECLS (p < 0.05). CHD + CM showed the highest overall inpatient mortality (15%), and cumulative hospital billed charges (median US$ 541,374), all p < 0.001. Pediatric HF admissions have increased from 2004 to 2018. ECLS use and HTX have expanded in this population, with an associated decrease in inpatient mortality in the CHD and CM groups. CHD + CM patients are a growing population with the highest inpatient mortality.