A breath in the hearts of children
During childhood, it is very common for a child to be diagnosed at some time blow in the heart. About one in every hundred babies are born with congenital heart disease. But it is not necessary to be alarmed, in the majority of the cases, it is a casual finding without importance, since they usually assign the qualifier to him of innocent, that is to say, without any consequence in the health of the small one.
Parents are frightened when they hear from the doctor that their baby has a heart murmur since almost half of the children have this anomaly. This problem can appear both in the first days of life of the child, and much later and is usually one of the symptoms of having some congenital heart disease.
As a general rule, we usually believe that a murmur is due to a serious disease of the heart, but nevertheless, Children's murmurs are usually functional or innocent and they can appear and disappear throughout childhood.
What is the heart murmur?
The breath in the heart is a peculiar noise that is detected when the doctor listens to the child, normally, because he has presented fever and the causes are not known. The breath can rise and be heard clearer depending on the child's heartbeat, that is, if he is excited or scared, his heartbeat will increase and the murmur will be heard more intensely.
Classification of heart murmurs
Heart murmurs They are classified according to their intensity and they follow a scale from 1 to 6 attending to its volume. To assess the right degree of intensity, the pediatrician determines:
- In what part of the heart is the breath generated?
- What are its characteristics: if it is discordant and acute or is soft and resembles a slight puff.
- At what time the breath occurs.
- If it is a murmur, it disappears or changes when the child changes position.
The functional murmur of children
The most common type of heart murmur in children is the so-called functional or harmless. This diagnosis implies that the murmur is the product of a normal and healthy heart. It usually disappears on its own as the child grows and It does not pose any risk to your health.
Causes that produce a heart murmur
- A Heart valve that is thicker or narrower of the normal.
- A abnormal communication between two cavities, the atria or between the two ventricles, due to congenital heart disease.
- The puff appears in a normal and healthy heart. This means that there are no constrictions or failures in the closing of the valves, although a small murmur is heard in the heart. It is an unusual noise in a normal and healthy heart.
- Most of the time it appears momentarily, being a pathological murmur, for example, when the child has a fever or when lying down.
Noelia de Santiago Monteserín
It may interest you:
- World Heart Day: 14 curiosities about the heart to explain to children
- How to take care of children's hearts
