title: Congenital cardiac malformations in pediatric necropsies: characteristics, associations and prevalence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Brazil, since 2001, the congenital abnormalities have represented the second cause of death in children younger than one year, with cardiovascular defects being responsible for 39.4% of these deaths.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To establish the prevalence and the characteristics of the congenital cardiac malformations in pediatric necropsies performed in Hospital Regional da Asa Sul, Brasília, DF, Brazil, from January 1996 to December 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study that reviewed 1,591 necropsies performed from January 1996 to December 2007 and found 189 (11.9%) with congenital cardiac malformations, included in this study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cardiac abnormalities were observed mainly in the group of live births (117/61.9%), followed by the stillbirths (35/18.5%), the infant group (30/15.9%) and the preschoolers' group (7/3.7%), with no cases identified among school-aged children. The main alterations detected were: interatrial communication in 96 patients (27%), interventricular communication in 66 patients (18.5%) and patent ductus arteriosus in 51 (14.3%), with no predominance of either sex. In 133 patients (70.4%), the cardiopathies were multiple and in 96 (50.8%) they were associated with anomalies in other organs and systems; among these, 45 (23.8%) presented cardiopathies as syndrome components, especially trisomies, at all age ranges.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of the present study show a high prevalence of congenital cardiac anomalies in our country and distribution and association that were similar to the ones observed in developed countries. The high mortality associated to such anomalies highlights the need for more comprehensive research in order to identify the risk factors and seek the primary prevention of some of these defects.
authors: Hospital de Base do Distrito Federal, Brasília, DF - Brazil.
authors: Dinaldo de Lima
authors: Dde L
authors: Leite
authors: Hélcio
authors: H
authors: Miziara
authors: Moema
authors: M
authors: Veloso
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D001344:Autopsy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D050497:Stillbirth; D013577:Syndrome