Publication:

Pattern of congenital heart diseases among children attending a pediatric cardiology OPD of a tertiary level hospital in West Bengal, India: a retrospective study

Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common congenital defects worldwide. The prevalence of CHD is low in India mostly due to under detection. The knowledge regarding socio-demographic factors, other congenital anomalies/syndromes and social impacts associated with CHDs in India is grossly lacking.

Methods This was a retrospective study. Details of all diagnosed pediatric (age 0-14 years) cases of CHD were recorded by a single cardiologist from the year 2013 to 2020. Duplicate entries were removed and CHDs were classified according to Q20-Q28 of tenth revision of international classification of diseases (ICD). For description purposes, the CHDs were divided into 10 sub-groups.

Results Total 9247 cases of CHDs were recorded during the study period. Ventricular septal defect was the most commonly identified CHD (32.1%). Most cases were acyanotic (69.8%) and presented first time at age of more than two years. Almost 1.5% cases were associated with other non-cardiac congenital defect or syndrome. In 1.0% of cases either mother or the child faced social or family problem due to the disease.

Conclusions CHD is an emerging public health problem. It is associated with other congenital anomalies/syndrome. Mandatory screening for birth defects needs to be initiated at all birth facilities. At birth counseling of the parents need to be implemented due to the associated social issues.