Yi Shen^1,2,3,#, Zeye Liu^4,#, Jing Xie^5,#, Xuanqi An^6,7,8,#, Zeyu Jing^1,2,3, Wenchuan Liao^1,2,3, Yifan Zhu^1,2,3, Chenyu Jiang^1,2,3, Xingliang Zhou^1,2,3, Xu Huang^1,2,3, Tianyu Liu^1,2,3, Jian Liu^1,2,3, Yuxi Ji^1,2,3, Yi Yan^1,3, Bei Feng^1,3, Yiwei Liu^1,2,3, Yi Shi^4,*, Yanjun Sun^2,*, Hao Zhang^1,2,3,*

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.085942 - 31 July 2026

Abstract Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital anomaly worldwide, yet the contribution of environmental factors to its global geographic variation remains incompletely understood. We aimed to systematically identify environmental factors associated with CHD incidence using an integrated framework combining machine learning and spatial epidemiology. Methods: Country-level data were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study. Boruta algorithm-based feature selection and random forest SHAP value ranking were applied to identify environmental factors associated with CHD incidence. Negative binomial regression was used to evaluate the associations between selected variables and CHD incidence.… More >

Whitnee Hogan^1,2,*, Thomas S. Przybycien^3,4, Anita J. Moon-Grady^3,4

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.085038 - 31 July 2026

Abstract Improvements in fetal cardiac imaging have highlighted the need for large, multidisciplinary collaborations to further advance fetal cardiovascular care. The Fetal Cardiac Intervention Registry (IFCIR), established in 2011, aims to improve outcomes in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD) considered amenable to fetal cardiac intervention (FCI). The registry compiles data from multiple international centers to better define indications, selection criteria, procedural techniques, complications, and outcomes of FCI. The Fetal Heart Society (FHS), founded in 2014, is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the understanding of in utero cardiovascular physiology through collaborative research, education and mentorship. The… More >

Anusha Konduri^1,*, Toni Duganiero², Lauren Smyth², Shahnawaz Amdani³, Angela Lorts², Sabrina Law⁴, Jacqueline Lamour⁵, Deipanjan Nandi⁶, Aryaz Sheybani⁷, Sarah Wilkens⁸, Thomas Young⁹, Mark Bleiweis¹⁰, Jennifer Conway¹¹

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.082288 - 31 July 2026

Abstract Pediatric heart failure is associated with substantial morbidity, mortality, and health care utilization across diverse diagnoses and care settings. Despite major advances in surgical and medical care, evidence-based management of heart failure in the pediatric population, especially with congenital heart disease (CHD), remains limited due to a small patient population, marked anatomic and physiologic heterogeneity, and barriers to conducting traditional randomized clinical trials. Clinical registries have provided important insights into pediatric heart failure, and the increasing complexity of these populations has underscored the value of learning health system approaches to data generation and improvement. The… More >

Luciane Alves da Rocha Amorim¹, Edward Araujo Júnior^2,3,*

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.080881 - 31 July 2026

Abstract The diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) brings profound uncertainty and emotional distress to families, yet the spiritual dimension of this experience is often overlooked in routine counseling. Based on a narrative review of the literature and our group’s prior scoping work, this commentary proposes a practical, ethically grounded framework for integrating spiritual awareness into fetal and pediatric CHD counseling. We distinguish spirituality from related constructs, religiosity, coping, resilience, and cultural values, and discuss both its potential benefits (e.g., fostering resilience, supporting decision-making) and risks (e.g., spiritual distress, fatalism, conflict with medical recommendations). Practical guidance… More >

Fan Yang^1,#, Xia Li^1,#, Zhiyuan Zhu^1,#, Shilin Wang^1,#, Zhongyuan Lu¹, Chao Yue², Leilei Duan¹, Xu Wang^1,*

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.075534 - 31 July 2026

Abstract Background: Early major adverse events (MAEs) after cardiac surgery are associated with substantial postoperative morbidity and mortality in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD). Early identification of patients at increased risk may facilitate timely intervention and optimize postoperative management. This study aimed to identify perioperative predictors of early MAEs and to develop a nomogram for individualized postoperative risk assessment. Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 766 infants with CHD who underwent cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at Beijing Fuwai Hospital between January 2020 and December 2021. Early MAEs were defined as the occurrence of at least… More >

Israt Jahan¹, Afsana Begum¹, Bibhas Roy Chowdhury Piyas^1,*, Fahmid Al Farid^2,3,*, Fatama Jannat Tisha¹, Shahrin Islam¹, Abu Saleh Musa Miah⁴, Hezerul Abdul Karim^3,*

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.88, No.3, 2026, DOI:10.32604/cmc.2026.081631 - 23 July 2026

Abstract Transforming underlying cardiovascular risk into actionable clinical decisions remains a major challenge in contemporary healthcare. Despite advances in cardiology, early-stage cardiovascular disease often remains undetected, which hinders timely intervention and leads to preventable deaths. To overcome this problem, this study presents an explainable machine learning framework for the early diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Initially, this study examined several data-balancing strategies, for example, SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique), SMOTETomek (Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique + Tomek Links), Tomek Links, ADASYN (Adaptive Synthetic Sampling), and SMOTE-ENN (Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique-Edited Nearest Neighbors) within the data-preprocessing pipeline. We… More >

Wenyi Luo^1,#, Li Yuan^1,#, Ruiling Feng², Kai Pu³, Yali Huang⁴, Mingxiong Li³, Xiaomin Tang⁵, Huimei Wang⁶, Xuejing Wang⁷, Wentin Zhang⁸, Hong Zheng⁹, Xiuhong Li¹⁰, Dandong Luo¹¹, Shanshan Shi⁵, Yaqin Shu³, Xu Wang¹², Na Du¹³, Yujie Shen¹⁴, Yamin Song¹⁵, Huihua Wang¹⁶, Xia Xie¹⁷, Qian Zhang¹², Qianqian Zhang¹⁸, Yuanyuan Zhang¹⁹, Yueyue Zhang¹, Xiaojie Hu²⁰, Zhimin Li²¹, Xiaolan Pan¹⁰, Youdong Pan²², Wenyuan Shang²³, Hairui Sun²⁴, Beini Wang²⁵, Yanhua Wang²⁶, Yanyan Wang²⁷, Yongting Wang²⁸, Guihong Yang²⁹, Yan Zhou³⁰, Zhimin Yang¹, Xuanxuan Li¹, Huiwen Chen^1,§,*, Zhuoming Xu^1,§,*

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.082239 - 11 June 2026

Abstract Objective: To develop the Chinese expert consensus on the prevention and management of central venous catheter (CVC)-related thrombosis in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) (hereafter referred to as the Consensus), with the aim of standardizing and improving preventive and therapeutic strategies for CVC-related thrombosis in pediatric patients with CHD. Methods: The consensus was formulated in strict accordance with the principles of evidence-based medicine by a multidisciplinary panel of experts. Evidence was appraised and synthesized using the JBI Evidence Grading System. The initial draft was refined through two rounds of Delphi consultations involving 16 experts and… More >

Naomi Kalume^1,*, Shreya Papneja¹, Jamie L. Jackson², Richard Krasuski³, Anushree Agarwal⁴, Arwa Saidi⁵, David Harrison^6,7, Matthew Lewis⁸, Anita Mathews¹, Scott Leezer⁹, Ken Woodhouse¹⁰, Aliza Marlin¹⁰, Danielle M. Hile¹⁰, Ryan Joy O’Connor¹¹, Ruth Phillippi¹, Thomas Carton¹², Anitha S. John¹

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.081700 - 11 June 2026

Abstract Background: Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) experience lifelong medical and psychosocial challenges, yet research in this population is limited by incomplete longitudinal data and insufficient incorporation of patient perspectives. Although patient engagement is increasingly recognized as important, structured and sustainable engagement models in ACHD research remain limited. Objectives: The paper aims to describe the development and operational structure of the Congenital Heart Initiative (CHI) Engagement Network and to report outcomes from two annual patient-powered research meetings used to identify and refine ACHD research priorities. Methods: The CHI Engagement Network was established as a multi-stakeholder research infrastructure… More >

Shruthi S^*, D. Hanumanth Rao Naidu

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.079590 - 11 June 2026

Abstract Background: Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is an abnormality of the heart arising before birth. CHD diagnosis poses a critical challenge, particularly in resource-constrained settings where access to doctors and skilled radiologists is limited. The maternal risk factors contributing to CHD include modifiable and non-modifiable causes. Very few studies mention about these maternal risk factors for the Indian population to build predictive machine learning models for disease forecasting. The aim is to explore the feasibility of predicting CHD occurrence using maternal risk factor data and machine learning models in an Indian context. Methods: This research utilizes Indian-origin… More >

Edward Araujo Júnior^1,2,*, Luciane Alves da Rocha Amorim³, Nathalie Jeanne Magioli Bravo-Valenzuela^4,5

Structural and Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.21, No.2, 2026, DOI:10.32604/schd.2026.079410 - 11 June 2026

Abstract This article has no abstract. More >