Abstract

Background: Congenital Heart diseases are the commonest congenital disease in the world. It requires regular frequent monitoring and necessary adaptations of the life style. Although the clinic services are free for a child with Congenital Heart Disease, attending the clinic generates a significant amount of out of pocket expenses; studying them and associated factors is a timely need. Aims: To describe the Socio-demographic characteristics of families that owns a child less than 5 years of age with congenital heart disease and calculate the out of pocket expenditure of those families for a clinic visit. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among 335 children from September to November 2014. Systematic random sampling technique was applied with an interviewer administered structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed by using SPSS version 23.0 Results: There was a Sinhala Buddhist female predominance, (53.4%) which was not significant. Majority of them were from the central province and were diagnosed during their infancy. Ages of the children varied between 12 to 60 months (Mean37.1:SD14.5). Among them the most common (40.3%) congenital heart disease was Mitral Valve Prolapse (N=135). Twenty three percent of participants had taken support from outside people to attend the clinic but no one had to pay for them. Majority (80.9%) of employed parents could not attend to work on the clinic day and 23% of participants lost their daily income due to the clinic visit. Total income of the families varied from Rs.12,000/= to Rs.80,000/= (Mean=Rs.23759.7: SD=Rs.9026.6). Mean expenditure for clinic visit was Rs1246/= (SD=Rs.650.8). Expenses were not associated with the age (p>0.05), type of the CHD (p>0.05), or gender (p>0.05)