Determining the risk factors of congenital heart defects in children from 2019 to 2023 in Al-Imam Sadiq Hospital in Iraq: a retrospective study

Objective. To determine the relationship between non-inherited risk factors among children with cardiac defects and their certain sociodemographic variables. Materials and methods. A retrospective study design was used for this study of congenital heart defects children in Babylon Centre for catheterization and cardiac Surgery in Al-Imam Sadiq Hospital Babylon province / Iraq (4/10/2023 to 1/7/2024). A nonprobability convenience sample of 542 patients aged 0-18 years with CHD was collected by administering a constructed tool for the study purposes. Result. The majority of the infants were between the ages group in 0-12 months with mean ages (22.28) almost equal in their sexes and 60.7% of parents were relative, more than three quarters were full term, less than half was born with additional abnormalities and majority of mothers were aged 36-45 years. Conclusions. Statistically significant associations were identified between CHD and the following factors: birth weight (p <0.14), parental consanguinity (p <0.037), and parental or relative history of CHD. Analysis of variance revealed significant relationships between CHD and additional abnormalities at birth (p <0.001, p <0.03), gestational term (p <0.03), and maternal age (p <0.025).