Cognitive performance of 16–17-year-old adolescents with univentricular heart
Univentricular heart (UVH) is a complex congenital heart defect. The survival rate of children with UVH has improved in recent decades because of improved surgical treatment. Most of the research on patients with UVH is performed on children. Information on the cognitive performance of adolescents with UVH is still limited. This is the first study to comprehensively and precisely assess the cognitive profile of Finnish adolescents with UVH. The data (n =19) is representative of Finnish 16–17-year-old adolescents with UVH. The methods used were WAIS-IV, WMS-III, Trail Making, d2 and the Word Fluency test. The study showed lower cognitive outcome in the adolescents with UVH compared to the age reference group in some verbal and perceptual reasoning, learning of unrelated verbal material, visual memory and executive flexibility.