Pattern of Congenital Heart Diseases in Patients Presenting in a Tertiary Care Hospital of Karachi

Authors

  • Hajra Begum Author
  • Nadeem Sadiq Author
  • Saqlain Anwar Author
  • Ahmad Hassan Author
  • Zohab Ahmed Author
  • Hassan Waqar Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51985/

Keywords:

Atrial septal defect, Congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, Ventricular septal defect,

Abstract

 Objective: To identify the frequency and pattern of congenital heart defects (CHD) in referred cases at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

Methodology: To carry out this research, we reviewed the medical records of referred patients from various regions of Sindh province from September 2023 to August 2024. The data was collected from the Pediatric Cardiology Department of a tertiary care hospital via a computerized data system and was analyzed to calculate the frequency and pattern of CHD. Results: A total of 1,423 echocardiograms were reviewed; however, only 1,400 patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. Among these 1400 cases, 791(56.5%) were consistent with normal echo, and 609 (43.5%) were found to have a single or a combination of two or three CHDs. Among 609 CHD cases, 346 (56.8%) were male and 263 (43.1%) were female. Among these 609 cases, a total of 824 heart defects were diagnosed, 655 (79.4%) were acyanotic CHD, 119 (14.4%) were cyanotic CHD, and 50 (6.0%) others. In acyanotic heart defects, septal defects including VSD and ASD were most prevalent. However, among cyanotic heart defects, TOF was the most common abnormality identified. Conclusion: CHD is very prevalent in Karachi and is among the most common causes of mortality and morbidity. Early

 

detection and screening of heart defects through fetal and neonatal echocardiography allows timely interventions to improve this overall burden of mortality and morbidity 

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Published

2025-10-14

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