Examining potential demographic risk factors for congenital cardiovascular malformations on a time-developmental model.

A descriptive epidemiological study of congenital cardiovascular malformations (CCM) was performed to evaluate the use of a model which groups selected cardiac lesions according to time of embryonic origin. Infants born from 1983-1986 to residents of New York State excluding New York City and reported to the Congenital Malformation Registry (CMR) were first grouped into those with (n = 299) and without (n = 4424) chromosomes anomalies. Infants were then categorised according to the time of gestation of their earliest occurring CCM into one of the seven cardiac groups of the model. The categories were analysed by infant race, gender, birthweight, gestation, maternal age and education, and the presence of additional malformations. The group without chromosomal anomalies showed an increasing proportion of non-whites, females, and preterm births and a decreasing proportion of infants with other malformations in the embryonically later categories. The group with chromosomal anomalies was too small to exhibit any significant demographic patterns. The findings suggest associations between characteristics of the infant and the embryonic period in which the CCM occurred, thus demonstrating the usefulness of a time-based model. Further research should concentrate on confirming these associations with more complete data and on investigating their biological bases.