Almanac 2012: Congenital heart disease.

The prevalence of congenital heart disease in Europe was recently reported in two major papers. Data from a central database for 29 population-based registries in 16 countries showed a total prevalence of 8 per 1000. The overall detection rate of non-chromosomal congenital heart disease prenatally was only 20%, although 40% of severe cases were diagnosed before birth. It was estimated that each year in the European Union 36,000 children are live-born with congenital heart disease and another 3000 are diagnosed with congenital heart disease but die as a termination of pregnancy for foetal abnormality. In a systematic review of 114 papers and 24,091,867 live births the prevalence of congenital heart disease increased over time from 0.6/1000 in 1930 to 9.1/1000 after 1995. The rate has stabilised in the past 15 years but equates to 1.35 million children born each year with congenital heart disease. The prevalence was higher in Europe than in North America. An increased risk of congenital heart disease was seen with assisted reproductive techniques using data from the Paris Registry of Congenital Malformations. The higher risk varied with the method of assisted reproductive technique and the type of cardiac abnormality. The authors speculate that this may be due to the reproductive technology or to the underlying reason for infertility of the couple.