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Congenital heart defects: The patients who die
Author(s) -
Meberg Alf,
Lindberg Harald,
Thaulow Erik
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.2005.tb02046.x
Subject(s) - medicine , pediatrics , observational study , population , mortality rate , cause of death , prospective cohort study , surgery , disease , environmental health
Aims: To register mortality and causes of death in patients with congenital heart defects (CHDs). Methods: Prospective population‐based observational study. Results: 553 infants with CHD (1.1% of live born) were observed for 1–22 y (median 10 7/12 y). Sixty‐four died (11.6%), of whom 32 (50%) died during the first 4 wk, and 51 (79.7%) during the first year of life. Of the total neonatal deaths in the population (3 per 1000), CHDs occurred in 21.5%. Mortality for children with CHDs was not significantly different between the cohorts born in 1982–1991 and 1992–2002, for either neonatal deaths or deaths later on ( p >0.05). Out of 170 patients in whom therapeutic procedures (surgery, catheter interventions) were undertaken, 34 (20%) died. Nine cases (1.6%) died with unrecognized CHDs; seven of these on the first day of life with severe extracardiac malformations. In 50 (78.1%) cases, death was judged to be caused directly or indirectly from the CHD, and in 14 (21.9%) from extracardiac malformations or other conditions. Conclusion: CHDs occur in a substantial number of neonatal deaths. Most deaths are caused by cardiac insufficiency. The mortality rate remained unchanged.