Cardiac abnormalities common Happens In The Baby Born With Low Weight

A study of nearly 100,000 infants are born weighing less than 1,500 g (under 3.3 pounds) or delivered before 29 weeks, it was found that the rate of serious congenital heart disease was 8.9 per 1,000 cases, according to Jeremy M. Archer, MD, of the University of Florida in Gainesville, and colleagues.

 Conversely, a serious congenital heart disease requiring surgical correction  during the first year of life that has been estimated at 2.4 per 1,000 cases among infants born overall survival population, the researchers reported online in the February issue of Pediatrics. And compared with infants born with extremely low weight without a serious congenital heart disease with a one-year mortality was 12.7% - the mortality rate of babies born with heart defects was 44% (P <0.0001).

Archer and his colleagues describe a serious congenital heart disease as one of 14 specific lesions or other congenital heart disease requiring surgical or medical treatment in early or hospital at the age of one year.
In an accompanying editorial, Christopher Wren, MBChB, PhD, from the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, noted that there has been a dramatic increase in surgical repair technique for many cardiac anomalies are more common in recent decades.

"The improvement in results has focused attention on the malformation remains more of a challenge (such as hypoplastic left heart, abnormalities of other single ventricle, and pulmonary atresia) or in infants with other problems (such as prematurity, low birth weight, and coexist with noncardiac malformations ) puts them at high risk, "said Wren.
To determine the prevalence and types of serious congenital heart disease in the smallest babies, Archer and colleagues analyzed data from the Vermont Oxford Network (VON), an international consortium of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), which covers 75% of very low birth weight infants born in the United States.
All infants born between January 2006 and December 2007 were included (except those who died in the delivery room). A total of 703 participating NICUs.

 
Records for 99 786 babies born with very low weight - which weighs between 104 g and 1,500 g (0.883 pounds to 3.3 lbs) or at age 22 to 29 weeks of pregnancy - to learn.
Among these babies, 893 suffered from a serious congenital heart disease, and more likely to be small for gestational age, to have a cesarean delivery, and had been born in a central VON or transferred to the NICU within the first 28 days of his life.Differences were also seen on birth weight and Apgar scores, and infants with cardiac lesions less likely to have antenatal steroids.
The most common heart abnormalities are:
• Tetralogy of Fallot, 18.6%
• Aortic coarctation, 11.5%
• complete atrioventricular canal, 9.1%
• Pulmonary atresia, 8.2%
• Double-outlet right ventricle, 7.6%