Faculty Collaboration Database

Social deprivation index and outcomes after Glenn and Fontan palliations. Cardiol Young 2025 Dec;35(12):2516-2522

Date

12/10/2025

Pubmed ID

41368757

DOI

10.1017/S1047951125110263

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-105025775236 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recent studies show an association between lower socioeconomic status and worse outcomes in single ventricle patients after stage 1 palliation. We sought to investigate the association between socioeconomic status, using the social deprivation index, after the second and third stage palliations. We hypothesised that higher social deprivation index scores (higher deprivation) are associated with worse short and medium-term outcomes following Glenn and Fontan palliations.

METHODS: We performed a retrospective single-centre review on patients who underwent Glenn or Fontan palliation from 2007 to 2024. Social deprivation index was calculated using the last known address. Outcomes were collected at 1 year after Glenn and 1 and 5 years after Fontan.

RESULTS: There were 292 patients included. Higher social deprivation index scores were associated with higher weight (ρ = 0.19, p-value = 0.01) and fewer number of attended cardiology appointments at 1 year after Fontan (ρ = -0.20, p-value = 0.01) and higher weight (ρ = 0.36, p-value < 0.01) and weight percentile (ρ = 0.22, p-value = 0.02) at 5 years after Fontan. After adjusting for race and preferred language, weight at 1 year after Fontan (p-value = 0.007) and weight and weight percentile at five years after Fontan (p-value < 0.0001 and p-value = 0.04, respectively), remained significant. There was no association between social deprivation index score and number of hospitalisations, transplant, or mortality.

CONCLUSION: Higher social deprivation index scores were associated with higher weight and weight percentile and fewer number of attended cardiology appointments after Fontan palliation. Longer-term follow-up and multi-centre collaboration across diverse regions will be critical to understanding clinical impact.

Author List

Mejia C, Huisenga S, Pan AY, Schmidt R, Spearman AD, Singh N

Authors

Amy Y. Pan PhD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Andrew Spearman MD Associate Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Fontan Procedure
Heart Defects, Congenital
Humans
Infant
Male
Retrospective Studies
Social Class
Treatment Outcome