Incidence of congenital heart disease screened in 9156 term neonates at birth should be corrected after one year follow-up

Abstract

Objective The neonates with congenital heart disease(CHD)screened after birth should be followed-up to exclude abnormalities of fetal transition and this study aimed at defining a more accurate incidence of neonatal CHD. Methods Totally,9156 term neonates at 0～7 d after birth were recruited from 3 rural hospitals from Mar. 2002 to Jan. 2007. Color Doppler echocardiography was performed for the infants with clinical suspected CHD.The infants with CHD and mild defect were followed-up from 3 month to 1 year periodically in the outpatient clinic after discharge.Results Seventy-three infants were confirmed CHD and 199 were mild defect at birth.The incidence of neonatal CHD of 2.97%(272/9156).Only 148 of the 199 mild defect cases were followed-up,among them only 10 cases were diagnosed with CHD and 51 were lost.Another 11 new cases were detected after discharge.CHD were finally confirmed in 94 cases and the corrected incidence of neonatal CHD was 1.03%(94/9156).Conclusions The neonatal CHD should be diagnosis until one year old to provide a more accurate incidence. Key words: Neonatal screening; Heart defects,congenital; Incidence; Follow-up studies