Prevalence of Congenital heart disease of Bangladeshi Children - A Nationwide survey

Background— There is scarcity of data of Congenital heart disease (CHD) due to changing epidemiology. In this study we determined the prevalence of CHD, age distribution, and various forms of CHD including simple & complex CHD in the general population of Bangladesh. Objective: To investigate the prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in Bangladesh based on a large prospective multicenter screening study. Study design: A total of 6146 consecutive children from 8 union of 8 division throughout Bangladesh between July 2021, and December 2022, were included. CHD Cases were identified by clinical assessment and echocardiography. Results: The overall prevalence of CHD was 18.9 per 1000 live births. Out of 116 cases 64(55.2%) were female & 52 were male (44.8%) with a ratio of 1.2:1. Age from 0 to 18 years were included and CHD were found mostly in 1 to 5 years (39.7%). Distribution of Type of CHD were Acyanotic CHD 98(84.5%) and Cyanotic CHD were 18(15.5%). The most common CHD was atrial septal defect33 (28.45%), followed by patent ductus arteriosus 28(24.14%) ventricular septal defect 26 (22.41%), AV canal defect 4 (3.45%), tetralogy of Fallot 12 (10.34%), and DORV with VSD with PS & Truncus arteriosus were 1 each (0.86%). Some combined lesions like VSD with ASD 2(1.72%) and ASD, VSD with PDA 1(0.86%) And other Congenital heart diseases were HCM 2(1.72%), DCM 1(0.86%). Dextrocardia 1(0.86%). Significantly higher rates of CHD were found in Comilla 23(19.8%) district, followed by Khulna 16 (13.8%) and Madaripur 15 (12.9%). Conclusions: The prevalence of CHD in given population in this study is high from data from Western studies. This screening study may provide more accurate and complete information on the overall prevalence of CHD.