ORLANDO — Infants born with a congenital heart disease during 1990-1999 who then underwent care at a tertiary center had an 89% actuarial survival rate to age 18 or older, based on data of more than 3,800 patients at one Belgium center.
The rate was a significant improvement over an 85% survival to adulthood rate for infants with congenital heart disease born during 1980-1989 and managed at the same center, and the 82% survival to age 18 or older in infants born during 1970-1979, Philip Moons, Ph.D., said at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association.
Dr. Moons and associates used the clinical database of the congenital heart disease program at Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium, which included 17,044 patients born with gross structural abnormalities of the heart or intrathoracic great vessels. Twenty-three percent were born during 1990–1999;24% before 1970, 10% during 1970–1979, 21% during 1980–1989, and 17% in 2000 or more recently.
The most common congenital diseases for the entire group was ventricular septal defect, in 22%, followed by atrial septal defect in 15%, and pulmonary valve abnormality in 10%.
In the 1990-1999 group, mortality from congenital heart disease occurred because of cardiac failure in 56%, postoperative complications in 22%, and perioperative complications in 9%. In the 1990-1999 group, mortality during follow-up was 99% in patients with mild congenital heart disease, 90% in those with moderate disease, and 59% in patients with a complex abnormality, said Dr. Moons, a researcher at Catholic University who reported no financial conflicts of interest.