Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To systematically evaluate neurodevelopmental differences between children with congenital heart disease (CHD) and healthy controls. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted in Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, Wanfang Data, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Service System, and VIP Database to identify studies published from database inception to February 2025 that assessed the neurodevelopment of children with CHD (CHD group) and healthy controls (control group) using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. In total, 33 studies involving 3 316 children were included. Hedges' g was used as the effect size. Meta analysis, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias analysis were performed using STATA/SE 17.0. RESULTS: Based on BSID-II, compared with the control group, the CHD group had significantly lower mental development index (Hedges' g=-1.09) and psychomotor development index (Hedges' g=-1.22) scores (both P<0.001). Based on BSID-III, compared with the control group, the CHD group had markedly lower scores in cognition (Hedges' g=-0.78), language (Hedges' g=-0.65), and motor (Hedges' g=-0.98) (all P<0.001). The Wechsler Intelligence Scale indicated that, compared with the control group, the CHD group had significantly lower full-scale intelligence quotient (Hedges' g=-0.74), verbal intelligence quotient (Hedges' g=-0.86), and performance intelligence quotient (Hedges' g=-0.67) (all P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Children with CHD exhibit developmental delays in cognition, language, motor function, and intelligence.