title: Echocardiographic screening for congenital heart disease in 8819 children: A report from local community events for children's healthcare.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We had the opportunity to perform echocardiographic screening of children at local community events for children's healthcare sponsored by the prefectural government. The aim of this study was to assess the utility of echocardiographic screening by measuring the prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) and abnormal findings in children without history of diagnosed CHD.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects consisted of 8819 infants and preschool children (1 month to 6 years) who underwent echocardiographic examination at public events from 2001 to 2013. Children with known CHD were excluded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed echocardiographic screening on 752 (range: 464-993) children at each event. At a total of 12 events, subjects consisted of 3175 infants less than one year (36%), 2292 one-year-olds (26%), 1058 two-year-olds (12%), 794 three-year-olds (9%), and other children up to age six years. We identified echocardiographic abnormalities in 137 children (15.5/1000 subjects), and 89 children (10.1/1000 subjects) were diagnosed with CHD. The prevalence of an echocardiographic abnormality did not change over the 12-year period (Kendall's tau=-0.272, p=0.19).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CHD which could not be identified by prenatal echocardiography and neonatal auscultation could be detected in a substantial number of young children by echocardiographic screening. Echocardiographic screening may be useful for early diagnosis of CHD. However, our study is based on cross-sectional data without follow-up. Larger prospective studies are needed to verify the utility of echocardiographic screening with follow-up data in this cohort.
authors.affiliation: Ultrasound Examination Center, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Susumu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishio
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan. Electronic address: kusunosek@tokushima-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Kenya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kusunose
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirotsugu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.affiliation: Ultrasound Examination Center, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamao
authors.affiliation: Ultrasound Examination Center, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukina
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokushima Prefectural Central Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Tokushima Municipal Hospital, Tokushima, Japan; Hinata Clinic, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Suguru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsuoka
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan.
authors.forename: Masataka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sata
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006277:Health Fairs; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D015995:Prevalence
keywords: Congenital heart disease; Echocardiography; Screening