Cardiomyopathy
Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms of cardiomyopathy vary. This is further complicated by the fact that infants and young children are often unable to express how they feel. That said, there are a number of symptoms associated with the different forms of cardiomyopathy:

• Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) — Symptoms in infants include difficulty breathing, poor appetite and slow weight gain. Older children may also have trouble being physically active and become excessively fatigued when exercising.
• Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) — Infants with HCM often have trouble breathing, may sweat excessively and have a poor appetite. Older children may have shortness of breath, dizziness and chest pain. They also may faint or have trouble being physically active.
• Restrictive Cardiomyopathy (RCM) — Although the symptoms of RCM tend to be subtle, some children may have a poor appetite, tire easily, and experience chest pain, an upset stomach and a dry cough.
• Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy (ARVC) — ARVC is very rare in children and symptoms usually don't appear until the teen years or later.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated March 10, 2010