Birth prevalence of congenital heart disease: A cross-sectional observational study from North India.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the birth prevalence and pattern of congenital heart disease (CHD) using echocardiography in babies born in a community hospital of North India.


METHODS
A cross-sectional observational study conducted over a period of 3 years. Newborns born over a specific 8-h period of the day were recruited in the study. They underwent routine clinical examination and pulse oximetry, followed by screening echocardiography for diagnosing a CHD.


RESULTS
A total of 20,307 newborns were screened, among which 874 had abnormal echocardiograms; 687 had insignificant CHDs, 164 had significant CHDs, and 24 had other abnormal cardiac findings. The birth prevalence of significant CHDs was 8.07 per 1000 live births; 131 newborns had an acyanotic CHD (79.9%) and 33 a cyanotic CHD (20.1%). Ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most common acyanotic CHD, present in 116 newborns, giving a prevalence of 5.7/1000 live births. Among the cyanotic CHD, transposition of great arteries was most common (prevalence 0.34/1000 live births).


CONCLUSIONS
The CHD birth prevalence in our study is similar to the reported worldwide birth prevalence. Acyanotic CHD (mostly VSD) is seen in about three-fourths of babies born with CHD. The more sinister cyanotic CHD is present in remaining 25%.
All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Anita
A
Saxena
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Anurag
A
Mehta
Department of Pediatrics, Columbia Asia Hospital, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
Mamta
M
Sharma
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Hindu Rao Hospital, New Delhi, India.
Sudha
S
Salhan
Department of Biostatistics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Mani
M
Kalaivani
Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Sivasubramanian
S
Ramakrishnan
Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
Rajnish
R
Juneja
Congenital heart disease; echocardiography; newborns; prevalence