Through this study we aimed to assess the educational level and employment status of adults with CHD in Germany.

Data were acquired from an online survey carried out in 2015 by the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. A total of 1458 adults with CHD participated in the survey (response rate: 37.6%). For 1198 participants, detailed medical information, such as main cardiac diagnosis and information from medical reports, was available.

Of the participants surveyed (n=1198), 54.5% (n=653) were female, and the mean age was 30 years. The majority of respondents (59.4%) stated that they had high education levels and that they were currently employed (51.1%). Patients with simple CHD had significantly higher levels of education (p<0.001) and were more likely to be employed (p=0.01) than were patients with complex CHD.

More than half of the participants had high education levels and the majority were employed. The association between CHD and its severity and individuals’ educational attainment should be investigated more closely in future studies.

Most patients born with CHD nowadays reach adulthood, and thus quality of life, life situation, and state of medical care aspects are gaining importance in the current era. The present study aimed to investigate whether patients’ assessment depends on their means of occupation. The findings are expected to be helpful in optimising care and for developing individual treatment plans.

The present study was based on an online survey conducted in cooperation with patient organisations. Participants were recruited from the database of the German National Register for Congenital Heart Defects. In total, 1828 individuals (777 males, 1051 females) took part. Participants were asked to rate aspects such their state of health on a six-tier scale (1=worst specification). Response behaviour was measured against the background of occupational details.

Training for or pursuing a profession was found to be significantly associated with participants’ rating of five of the six examined aspects (p<0.05). Sex seemed to play an important part in four of the six aspects.

An optimal treatment plan for adults with CHD should always consider aspects such as sex and employment status. To work out such an optimal and individual treatment plan for each adult CHD patient, an objective tool to measure patients’ actual CHD-specific knowledge precluding socially accepted response bias would be very useful.

Approximately 6000 children are born with CHD in Germany each year. It is increasingly rare that these children die from their chronic illness. In the present study, data recorded in the National Register for Congenital Heart Defects with respect to the prevalence of specific lesions and sex distribution are compared with that recorded in a published German prevalence study (Prevalence Study) and with the meta-analysis by van der Linde et al.

A descriptive data analysis was performed using a minimal data set. The demographic data included sex and birth year; the medical data comprised the cardiovascular diagnosis according to the short list of the International Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Code.

As the data analysis shows, the National Register is a clinical register including primarily clinical cases/cases relevant to healthcare. The prevalence values and sex ratios recorded in the register are closer to the values given in the literature than those determined by the Prevalence Study. Severe CHD was slightly over-represented in the National Register compared with the van der Linde et al meta-analysis. The deviations with respect to prevalence values are within an acceptable range.

With its 48,000 patients, the National Register plays a unique and important role for research in the field of CHD. Samples from the National Register can be used as a gold standard for future studies, as the patient population registered in it can be considered representative of CHD in Germany and Europe.