Prevalence of congenital heart disease among term infants with respiratory distress: a case study in Kerman

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) as one of the most common disorders in newborns are leading cause of perinatal mortality, also one of respiratory distress syndrome causes in newborns. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of congenital heart diseases in infants with respiratory distress syndrome.

This cross-sectional study is a retrospective study that surveyed congenital heart diseases in 145 term infants who were hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Afzalipour hospital, Kerman. These infants were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit from March 20, 2012 to the end of March 20, 2015 due to respiratory distress syndrome. Information was extracted from the medical records and then were entered in the checklist. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage), analytical (chi-square test) and SPSS version 20 software were used to analyze the data.

Out of 145 infants with respiratory distress syndrome, 123 infants had congenital heart diseases. Therefore, the prevalence of congenital heart diseases in patients with respiratory distress syndrome was 84.83%. The most infants with congenital heart diseases were male (66.67%) and weighed between 3-4 kg (47.97%). More than 69% of newborns with congenital heart diseases were born by cesarean section and most of them were receiving medical treatment (85.37%). There was a significant difference between patient outcome and congenital heart diseases (P=0.018). The difference between sex, weight and type of delivery with congenital heart diseases was not significant. In terms of the prevalence of congenital heart diseases, atrial septal defect (ASD) was the most prevalent with 14.48%. After that, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) was the most prevalent with 11.72%.

Due to the high prevalence of congenital heart diseases in term children with respiratory distress syndrome, all term infants with symptoms of respiratory distress syndrome need cardiac examination, especially echocardiography to diagnose the cause. In addition, due to the high mortality of infants with congenital heart diseases with symptoms of respiratory distress syndrome, the need for more, more accurate and complete care of these infants is suggested.