Major Findings: Survival to adulthood has significantly improved for persons born with congenital heart disease, from 82% in those born in the 1970s to 89% in those born in the 1990s.
Data Source: Clinical database of 17,044 patients in the congenital heart disease program at Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium.
Disclosures: Dr. Moons had no financial conflicts of interest to report.
ORLANDO — Infants born with a congenital heart disease during 1990-1999 who underwent care at a tertiary center had an 89% actuarial survival rate to age 18 or older, data on more than 3,800 patients at one Belgium center showed.
That was a significant improvement over 85% survival to adulthood for infants born during 1980-1989 and managed at the same center, and the 82% rate in those born during 1970-1979, Philip Moons, Ph.D., said at the annual scientific sessions of the American Heart Association.
The 89% rate improved on the 85% rate from the 32nd Bethesda Conference in a report based on outcomes of congenital heart disease patients born in the 1980s, Dr. Moon said (J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. 2001;37:1170-5).
Dr. Moons and his associates analyzed survival data from the clinical database of the congenital heart disease program at Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium. It included 17,044 patients born with gross structural abnormalities of the heart or intrathoracic great vessels with actual or potential functional significance. The subset of these patients born during 1990-1999 was 23%; 24% were born before 1970, 10% during 1970-1979, 21% during 1980-1989, and 17% in 2000 or later.
The most common congenital diseases for the entire group was ventricular septal defect (22%), followed by atrial septal defect (15%), and pulmonary valve abnormality (10%).
Among infants born in 1990-1999, mortality from congenital heart disease was due to cardiac failure in 56%, postoperative complications in 22%, and perioperative complications in 9%. In the 1990-1999 subgroup, survival 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 health services researcher at Catholic University.