A randomized controlled trial of interventions to promote adjustment in children with congenital heart disease entering school and their families.

Objective: To report on a randomized controlled trial of psychological interventions to promote adjustment in children with congenital heart disease and their families.

Method: Following baseline assessment, 90 children (aged 4-5 years) and their families were randomly assigned to an Intervention or Control group before entering school. 68 (76%) were retained at 10-month follow-up.

Neurodevelopmental and respiratory follow-up results at 7 years for children from the United Kingdom and Ireland enrolled in a randomized trial of early and late postnatal corticosteroid treatment, systemic and inhaled (the Open Study of Early Corticosteroid Treatment).

Objectives: The goals were to compare early school-age neurodevelopmental and respiratory outcomes for children who were treated with either early (<3 days) or delayed selective (>15 days) postnatal corticosteroid therapy and to compare systemic dexamethasone treatment with inhaled budesonide treatment.

Methods: One hundred twenty-seven (84%) of 152 survivors from the United Kingdom and Ireland who were recruited to the Open Study of Early Corticosteroid Treatment, a randomized trial of inhaled and systemic corticosteroid therapy to prevent chronic lung disease, were traced and assessed at a median age of 7 years. Outcome measures were level of disability, presence of cerebral palsy, cognitive ability, behavioral difficulties and competencies, growth, and respiratory symptoms.