Congenital heart disease: a 10 year cohort

In order to describe the epidemiology of congenital heart disease in Western Australia, a retrospective, population-based cohort study was conducted using data collected from multiple sources of ascertainment by the Western Australian Birth Defects Registry. The prevalence of congenital heart disease was 7.65 per 1000 total births. Nine per cent of all cases had a chromosomal disorder, another 17% had extracardiac defects in addition to congenital heart disease, and 75% had isolated congenital heart disease. Congenital heart disease was more common in Aboriginal compared with non-Aboriginal infants, and in multiple births compared with singletons. Compared with infants weighing 3000 to 3499 g, infants of lower birthweight were more likely to have congenital heart disease, and infants in the heaviest category (> or = 3500 g) were less likely to have congenital heart disease. Three per cent of all stillbirths were known to have a cardiac defect, as were 15.2% of neonatal deaths and 10.8% of post-neonatal deaths.