Prevalence of congenital heart disease among Palestinian children born in the Gaza Strip.

OBJECTIVE

This study was designed to estimate the birth prevalence of children with congenital heart disease born in the Gaza Strip during 2010 and to compare these with estimates from elsewhere.

METHODS

We reviewed the medical records of all children born in 2010 who were diagnosed, treated, and/or followed up in the four paediatric cardiology clinics in the Gaza Strip. Data were also obtained from El Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem and from the Schneider Hospital, Wolfson Medical Center, and Tel HaShomer Hospital in Israel, where we had referred some of our patients for percutaneous or surgical treatment.

RESULTS

A total of 598 children with congenital heart disease were detected among the 59,757 children born alive in the Gaza Strip during 2010, yielding a birth incidence of 10 per 1000 live births. The most frequently occurring conditions were ventricular septal defects (28%), ostium secundum atrial septal defects (17%), patent ductus arteriosus (8.5%), and pulmonary valve abnormalities (8%). In this study, 7% of the children died. The actuarial survival at 6 months and 1 year of age was 94% and 93%, respectively, and remained stable over 18 months of follow-up.

CONCLUSION

The birth incidence of congenital heart disease in the Gaza Strip in 2010 (10 per 1000) is higher than most estimates in Western Europe (8.2 per 1000 live births) and North America (6.9 per 1000 live births) but is similar to estimates from other parts of Asia (9.3 per 1000 live births).