Frequency of Congenital Heart Disease in Neonates with Extra Cardiac Anomalies

Diagnosis of congenital heart disease (CHD) in neonates with extra cardiac anomalies is effective in their clinical management and surgical outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the frequency of CHD in neonates with extra cardiac anomalies admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

This retrospective, descriptive study included all neonates with extra cardiac anomalies admitted to the NICU of Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital in Rafsanjan, Iran, from March 2016 until the end of September 2018. Data were collected through a researcher-designed checklist including demographic and disease information for neonates and their parents. The checklist was filled out according to the neonates’ medical records. Moreover, CHD was diagnosed using echocardiography. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.

From the 58 neonates, 35 (60.35%) were boys and 23 (39.65%) were girls. The mean age of the neonates was 5.27±6.9 days. The prevalence of CHD in neonates with extra cardiac anomalies was 37.25% (n=19). The most prevalent CHD anomaly was PDA with a rate of 78.9%. The highest prevalence of CHD was associated with musculoskeletal (50%, n=6 from 12), and genitourinary (43.8%, n=7 from 16) abnormality, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the CHD and non-CHD neonates in terms of neonatal gender and parental characteristics.

This study shows that 37.25% of neonates with extra cardiac anomalies have CHD anomalies; thus, it is recommended to refer all neonates with extra cardiac anomalies for cardiac examination.