Is the prevalence of specific types of congenital heart defects different for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black and Hispanic infants?
BACKGROUND
Our purpose was to determine the prevalence of specific types of CHD among non-Hispanic (NH)-Black, NH-White, and Hispanic infants.


METHODS
We conducted a retrospective cohort study with 9,352 singleton infants diagnosed with conotruncal, right or left obstructive or septal CHDs from the Florida Birth Defects Registry, born 1998-2003 to resident NH-White, NH-Black, and Hispanic women aged 15-49. Defect-specific prevalence rates, prevalence ratios and P-values were calculated for each type of CHD and by number of defects for each racial/ethnic group.


RESULTS
Compared to NH-Whites, NH-Blacks had higher rates of pulmonary valve atresia/stenosis but lower frequency of aortic valve atresia/stenosis and ventricular septal defect. Hispanics had lower rates of aortic valve atresia/stenosis and atrioventricular septal defects than NH-Whites.


CONCLUSIONS
Although few racial/ethnic differences in prevalence are present among infants with major CHD, observed differences are clinically meaningful. However, the underlying etiologies for the observed differences remain unknown.
Nembhard
Wendy N
WN
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, College of Public Health, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612-3805, USA. wnembha@health.usf.edu
Salemi
Jason L
JL
Wang
Tao
T
Loscalzo
Melissa L
ML
Hauser
Kimberlea W
KW
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000145:classification* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D044465:White People; D055815:Young Adult