Spread of heart diseases seen in an open-access paediatric echocardiography clinic.
All patients <13 years of age referred to the open-access paediatric echocardiography clinic at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Muscat, Oman, during the five years from 1994 to 1998 were analysed. Among the 2633 patients studied, 1543 (58.6%) were normal, 845 (32.1%) had congenital heart disease, and 245 (9.3%) had acquired heart disease. The major congenital heart diseases identified were secundum atrial septal defect (22.5%), ventricular septal defect (22.5%), patent ductus arteriosus (15.7%), mitral valve prolapse (10.7%), pulmonary stenosis (9.7%) and atrioventricular septal defect (4.5%). Fifty-eight percent of the congenital heart diseases were identified in the first year of life. Among the acquired heart diseases, rheumatic heart disease (30.2%) and cardiac involvement secondary to haemoglobinopathies (16.7%), dilated cardiomyopathy (16.3%) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (12.7%) were significant. Although the presence of specific cardiac symptoms was associated with a high yield of abnormalities, such disorders were also discovered in a significant number of children with isolated cardiac murmur. The referral source did not influence significantly the frequency of heart diseases diagnosed in this study. Open-access echocardiography is important in early detection of heart disease in the paediatric population.
Venugopalan
P
P
Department of Child Health, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, PO Box 38, PC 123, Muscat, Oman. gopalax@omantel.net.com
Agarwal
A K
AK
Johnston
W J
WJ
Riveria
E
E
D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007229:Infant Welfare; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D009850:Oman; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*