Incidence of congenital heart disease among neonates in a neonatal unit of a tertiary care hospital.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the incidence and pattern of various congenital heart disease in a neonatal unit of a tertiary care hospital.

METHODS: The prospective study was carried out in the neonatal unit of Combined Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from September 2008 to August 2011. All 5800 neonates admitted with gestational age of > 28 weeks irrespective of birthweight were included in the study. Neonatologist/Paediatrician carried out the neonatal examination during the first 12 hours of life. Neonates suspected of having congenital heart disease were further evaluated by pulse oxymetry, X-ray chest and echocardiography to ascertain final diagnosis and type of lesion. Data was collected on a predesigned proforma containing information regarding gender, mode of delivery, gestational age, weight at birth, family history, and associated malformations. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Of the 5800 neonates, 87 (1.5%) were found to have congenital heart disease with an incidence of 15/1000. There was a male preponderance. Most common lesion was ventricular septal defect 27 (31.3%), followed by atrial septal defect 20 (22.9%), patent ductus arteriosus 13 (14.94%), tetralogy of fallot 06 (6.89%), transposition of great arteries 04 (4.59%), Pulmonary stenosis 05 (5.79%) and 03 (3.44%) had atrioventricular canal defects.

CONCLUSION: Congenital heart disease is a common congenital anomaly. Its incidence varies from centre to centre due to different factors like nature of the sample, method of detection and early examination by a neonatologist/paediatrician. In this study a higher incidence is reported because it was carried out in a tertiary care unit, which is a referral hospital and all the neonates admitted in the unit were included in the study.