title: Prevalence and clinical significance of cardiac murmurs in schoolchildren.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and clinical significance of heart murmurs detected during heart disease screening among apparently healthy schoolchildren.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  32 elementary schools in Dongguan City of China.
  
  
  METHODS
  81,213 schoolchildren aged 5-13 years from different elementary schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  The prevalence and clinical significance of heart murmurs among schoolchildren.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Murmurs were detected in 2193 schoolchildren (2.7%), of whom 215 had a structural heart disease (SHD). Of patients who had SHD, 198 children had congenital heart disease (CHD), 12 had mitral valve prolapse and 5 had rheumatic heart disease. In patients who had CHD, the most common diagnosis was a ventricular septal defect. With respect to sex, SHDs were equally distributed between males and females. Of the schoolchildren who had a murmur, 1797 (81.9%) had a murmur with the loudness of grade 1 or 2 and 396 (18.1%) had a murmur with the loudness of grades 3-6. The prevalence of SHD fell significantly with increasing age.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study suggested that apparently healthy schoolchildren with grade ≤2 cardiac murmurs are least likely to have underlying SHD, especially in those aged ≥10 years. However, echocardiography should be performed in younger schoolchildren with cardiac murmur grade ≥3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Guanyang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jianmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Yitong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jieying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Shantou University, Shantou, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Yuqiang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Qingchun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Qiaozhu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Dongguan Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Jinan University, the Fifth People's Hospital of Dongguan (also called Taiping People's Hospital of Dongguan), Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
authors.forename: Jiuhao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology; D006337:Heart Murmurs / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D010808:Physical Examination / Q000379:methods; D015995:Prevalence; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014463:Ultrasonography
keywords: Cardiology; Congenital Abnorm; Epidemiology; Screening