What causes a heart murmur in a child?

Every parent hopes that their children grow up healthily. When many parents take their children for physical examinations, they will find that the doctor will find that their children have heart murmurs. This often makes parents particularly worried, fearing that their children will develop heart disease, which has a certain impact on their children's physical and mental health. In fact, heart murmurs in young children are not necessarily caused by disease. Let’s understand what is going on with heart murmurs in young children?

What causes a heart murmur in a child?

Some murmurs are signs of heart disease, while others have no pathological significance. That is, some children may have a heart murmur but do not have heart disease. The murmur is caused by the enhanced vibration of blood flow in the pulmonary artery. The murmur produced by this vibration is high-pitched and soft, but not very loud, generally not exceeding grade II, and is not conducted. It is often heard at the apex of the left chest or in the second intercostal space at the left edge of the sternum. It is usually more obvious when the child has a fever, cries, or exercises vigorously, and it weakens after the fever subsides and when the child is quiet. This heart murmur is not a symbol of heart disease, nor is it a congenital heart disease. We call it a "functional murmur" or "harmless murmur", which will not affect the child's growth and development. Physiological murmurs in children usually first appear in infancy, increase in number in children aged 2 to 3 years old, and are most common in children aged 3 to 7 years old. As people age, their organ functions mature, their heart valves become more functional, and physiological murmurs disappear naturally.

But some noises are loud, rough, and transmitted in a certain direction. We call this kind of noise "pathological noise." It is common in children with congenital heart disease. It is due to the influence of certain factors during the development of the heart during the embryonic period, resulting in abnormal channels or septal defects. Because there are abnormal channels between various parts of the heart, that is, the normal channels are too narrow, when the blood circulates, the blood flows like the rushing water of the Yangtze River into its narrowed branch rivers, causing whirlpools and noise. Children with congenital heart disease will have their growth and development affected. Some will have palpitations and shortness of breath when they move a little, some will suffer from frequent pneumonia, and some will suffer from cyanosis due to lack of oxygen. In short, it is different from normal children of the same age.

The above is an introduction to what causes heart murmurs in young children. After understanding it, we know that such symptoms are not necessarily caused by disease. Therefore, in order to better confirm the cause, parents must take their babies to the hospital for examination and diagnosis in time. Once a disease is diagnosed, timely treatment must be carried out to avoid serious development of the disease.