Determination of the frequency, mortality associated conditions and the necessity of screening in critical congenital heart diseases

Critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) describes congenital heart lesions that require intervention and/or surgical treatment early in life. With this study, it is aimed to determine the frequency of CCHD, the CCHD rate among infant mortality, and the conditions associated with mortality. The study included 4083 CCHD infant mortality cases registered in the Death Notification System (DNS) in 2018-2021 and 9884 cases with CCHD diagnosis in the 2018-2020 birth cohort. 9.8% of infant deaths and 8.0% of neonatal deaths were associated with CCHD. The infant mortality rate specific to CCHD was 8.8 per 10,000 live births and the neonatal mortality rate was 4.6. The variables with the highest mortality rate of CCHD were prematurity and low birth weight (LBW). The frequency of CCHD in the birth cohort was found to be 27.8 per 10,000 live births. The variables with the highest frequency of CCHD were prematurity and LBW. In the 2018-2020 birth cohort, the mortality rate in live-born infants with CCHD was 16.6% in the neonatal period and 31.6% in the first year of life. The mean survival time in the 2018-2020 birth cohort was 40.0 months (95% CI: 39.5-40.6%). In conclusion, This study showed that CCHD is common in our country, mortality rates are high, and CCHD has an important place in newborn and infant mortality.