10 Mar Have you been told that your unborn baby  with Down Syndrome WILL have heart defects and will not have a good quality of life 

Have you been told that your unborn baby  with Down Syndrome WILL have heart defects and will not have a good quality of life 

Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital disorder in newborns.  The birth rate prevalence of congenital heart disease is understood to be approximately 8 – 10 cases per 1,000 live births. In Australia, there are approximately 300,000 registered births per year resulting 2,400 – 3,000 babies born each year with a form of congenital heart disease. Despite the “Common Myth” that ALL children with Down Syndrome will have a heart defect, the reality is that only about 50% of children with Down Syndrome are born with a heart defects. 

In Australia, babies with heart defects  are able to access surgical intervention to correct the heart defects and recover successfully to go on and have a productive fulfilling life. So having a heart defect requiring heart surgery does not mean that a child will no longer have a good quality of life! Ask the adults who’s had a heart bypass surgery, heart valve repair or heart pacemaker insertion surgery if their quality of life is bad or poor. All will tell you that having the life saving heart surgery gave them a new lease of life and improved their quality of life.

Equally a child with Down Syndrome who has heart defects will have a much better quality of life when they undergo heart surgery to repair any heart defects.  We are blessed to be living in modern first world countries where heart surgery is available and accessible for people to need them. So why would anyone think that a child with Down Syndrome who has a heart defect and is able to access heart surgery is going to have a poor quality of life? 

#Downsyndrome #myfavouritephysio #T21 #paedsphysio #kidsphysio #physiotherapy #physio #Bankstown #mythbusting