Frequency of Congenital Heart Defects in Infants and Young Children Based on Echocardiography at a Children's Hospital in Lahore

Aim: The aim of this study is to find out the prevalence of congenital heart defect in infants and young children in limited resources country.

Method: A descriptive-observational study was carried out at cardiology department over the period of four months from September to December 2016. Data was collected on a predesigned proforma containing information regarding name, gender, age, weight and associated malformations.

Results: Out of 1266 referred patients for echocardiography, congenital heart defects were detected in 93% .There were 64.7% (n=820) males and 35.3% (n=446) females. 83% of the children had acyanotic heart defects and 17% children had cyanotic heart defects. Most frequent acyanotic and cyanotic heart defects were Ventricular septal defect (VSD) 32.8% and Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) 5.9% respectively.

Conclusion: The prevalence regarding congenital heart defectdetected more acyanotic than cyanotic heart diseases. Ventricular septal defect found to be the commonest in acyanotic lesion and Tetralogy of Fallot the commonest cyanotic heart defect.

Keywords: Congenital heart disease, 2-dimension echocardiography, ventricular septal defect, tetralogy of Fallot.