Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health logoLink to Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
. 1992 Jun;46(3):211–215. doi: 10.1136/jech.46.3.211

Epidemiology of major congenital heart defects in Sweden, 1981-1986.

P Pradat 1
PMCID: PMC1059552  PMID: 1645073

Abstract

STUDY OBJECTIVE--The aim was to make an epidemiological study of major congenital heart defects and to make comparisons between groups of heart defects regarding different epidemiological variables. DESIGN--The cases with congenital heart defects were identified from two Swedish registries: the Registry of Congenital Malformations and the Child Cardiology Registry. A classification with nine groups of heart defects is proposed. SETTING--This was a national survey in Sweden during the period 1981-1986. The total number of cases reported during the six years was 1605. Cases that presented a patent ductus arteriosus only and a birthweight below 2500 g were excluded. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS--The prevalence at birth was 2.8 per 1000. When cases with a chromosomal anomaly were excluded, no maternal age effect was observed except a possible under-risk for women above 40 years. The risk for a heart defect seems to increase with increasing parity independent of age. A higher risk was also observed among twin infants compared with singletons although no specificity in cardiac malformation type appeared. Sex ratio, the tendency for having an associated extracardiac malformation, and the proportion of isolated v non-isolated cardiac defects differed between the different groups of heart malformations. CONCLUSIONS--The differences observed between groups of defects indicate different aetiologies and show that this classification may be suitable for further analyses of congenital heart defects.

Full text

PDF
215

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Berg K. A., Astemborski J. A., Boughman J. A., Ferencz C. Congenital cardiovascular malformations in twins and triplets from a population-based study. Am J Dis Child. 1989 Dec;143(12):1461–1463. doi: 10.1001/archpedi.1989.02150240083023. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CARLGREN L. E. The incidence of congenital heart disease in children born in Gothenburg 1941-1950. Br Heart J. 1959 Jan;21(1):40–50. doi: 10.1136/hrt.21.1.40. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carlgren L. E., Ericson A., Källén B. Monitoring of congenital cardiac defects. Pediatr Cardiol. 1987;8(4):247–256. doi: 10.1007/BF02427537. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Ferencz C., Rubin J. D., McCarter R. J., Brenner J. I., Neill C. A., Perry L. W., Hepner S. I., Downing J. W. Congenital heart disease: prevalence at livebirth. The Baltimore-Washington Infant Study. Am J Epidemiol. 1985 Jan;121(1):31–36. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a113979. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Källén B. Congenital malformations in twins: a population study. Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma) 1986;35(3-4):167–178. doi: 10.1017/s0001566000005687. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Källén B. Search for teratogenic risks with the aid of malformation registries. Teratology. 1987 Feb;35(1):47–52. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420350108. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Källén B., Winberg J. A Swedish register of congenital malformations. Experience with continuous registration during 2 years with special reference to multiple malformations. Pediatrics. 1968 Apr;41(4):765–776. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Layde P. M., Erickson J. D., Falek A., McCarthy B. J. Congenital malformation in twins. Am J Hum Genet. 1980 Jan;32(1):69–78. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Melnick M., Myrianthopoulos N. C. The effects of chorion type on normal and abnormal developmental variation in monozygous twins. Am J Med Genet. 1979;4(2):147–156. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.1320040207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. ROWE R. D., UCHIDA I. A. Cardiac malformation in mongolism: a prospective study of 184 mongoloid children. Am J Med. 1961 Nov;31:726–735. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(61)90157-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Tikkanen J., Heinonen O. P. Maternal exposure to chemical and physical factors during pregnancy and cardiovascular malformations in the offspring. Teratology. 1991 Jun;43(6):591–600. doi: 10.1002/tera.1420430614. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Windham G. C., Bjerkedal T. Malformations in twins and their siblings, Norway, 1967-79. Acta Genet Med Gemellol (Roma) 1984;33(1):87–95. doi: 10.1017/s0001566000007558. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES