engleski

Epidemiology of congenital heart diseases in Croatia-multicentric national study, 1995-2000

Introduction Malformations of the heart and great arteries today belong to the most frequent congenital anomalies detected during the first year of the life. More recent population-based epidemiological studies of CHD were reviewed by Frencz indicating prevalence ranging from 3.5‰ to 13.7‰ . In our study CHD were estimated according to Clarks pathogenetic classification. Goal. The primary goal of the study was to evaluate the incidence of CHD in Croatia, to classify them according to Clark classification and to compare our results with those in the literature. Patients and methods. The study population consisted of all the children born between 1995 and 1999 in Croatia, who were seen by local pediatric cardiologists. Altogether 100, 736 livebirths were surveyed until now, which represents 40% of childern with CHD. Results. During the observed period we followed 1417 patinets with CHD, 718 boys and 699 girls. The overall incidence rate (1.41%) was slightly higher than found in the general population, as repoted in the literature. When analyzed according to Clark classification we found intracardiac blood flow defects to be the most common ones (58.7%), followed by ectomesenchymal tissue migration defects (16.6%), cell death abnormalities (9.3%), extracellular matrix abnormalities (4.7%), undifferentiated defects (3.3%), abnormal situs and looping defects (1.7%) and abnormalities of targeted growth (0.4%). Combined defects were found in 5.2% patients. The most common CHD was ASD II (18.6%), followed by perimembranous VSD (14.2%), muscular VSD (9.2%) and stenosis of pulmonary artery (8.8%): Conclusion. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the incidence of CHD in Croatia with the final goal of encourage better planning and treatment of this patients. Also, the studies of CHD which represent the leading cause of infant mortality from the congenital defects benefit from advances in understanding of the biology of cardiac development that is summarised in Clarks mechanicistic classification.

congenital heart diseases; incidence

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