Abstract

Background: Heart diseases constitute an important group of pediatric illness and major cause of childhood mortality and morbidity. According to a status report on congenital heart disease (CHD) in India, 10% of the present infant mortality may be accounted for by CHD.
Objective: (i) To study the spectrum of CHD in children under 5 years of age and (ii) to study the correlates of different CHDs through demographic and socioeconomic variables.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 390 patients under 5 years of age in the Department of Pediatrics, SP Medical College attached to PBM Associated Group of Hospitals, Bikaner, Rajasthan, India, from September 2014 to August 2015. The criteria to suspect heart disease was followed as formulated by Alexander Nadas as NADA’S criteria. The diagnosis was confirmed by echocardiography. Result: Pattern of CHD in this study was 88.9% cases of acyanotic CHD and 11.1% cases of cyanotic CHD. Ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most common CHD present in 38.5%, followed by atrial septal defect (ASD) in 12.8%, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in 8.5%, ASD + VSD in 7.4%, tetralogy of fallot (TOF) in 5.1% of total cases. A total of 131 (33.6%) patients had <3 SD weight for length/height Z-score. Pulse oximetry examination shows 54 cases (13.8%) with SpO ≤ 85%, 2 while 281 (72.1%) cases with SpO > 85%–95%, and 55 cases (14.1%) with SpO > 95%. 2 2 Conclusion: Acyanotic CHD was the most common. VSD was the most common CHD. TOF was the most common cyanotic CHD. According to the WHO Z-score, 52.6% patients showed moderate to severe malnutrition. About 72.1% of cases showed SpO between 85% and 95%, which shows that a pulse oximetry SpO <95% considered a positive test, 2 2 should be repeated in an hour, if positive again repeated in another hour, and if remained positive, echocardiography is indicated for evaluation of CHD.