ANALYSIS OF PREVALENCE OF CONGENITAL HEART DEFECT AMONG LOCAL POPULATION OF PAKISTAN

Introduction: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a heart defect with an abnormality in structure or functioning of heart that is present at birth. This condition is very common in the population of Pakistan. Objectives of the study: The basic aim of the study is to analyze the prevalence of congenital heart defect among local population of Pakistan. Materials and methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Lahore general hospital, Lahore during November 2018 to March 2019. The data was collected from 100 patients who visited the OPD of the hospital. The data was collected through non probability sampling technique. All infants visiting to the OPD due to any complaint would be examined for any abnormal murmur. Any abnormal heart sound case was referred for echocardiography for confirmation. Results: The data was collected 100 patients. Among the confirmed cases, 62.5 percent were males. 78 percent of the cases were between ages 1 to 3 months. The patients came with different presenting complaints as listed below. The presenting complaint was mostly respiratory infection 48 %, underweight 31 %, cyanosis (4%). It was found that the majority (98%) of cases were that of acyanotic congenital heart disease. Conclusion: It is concluded that early diagnosis and effective management has drastic improvement on prognosis of congenital heart disease. There is a considerably higher incidence of congenital heart disease in population of Lahore.