Abstract:

Objective: Congenital heart diseases (CHD) constitute 0.8-1.2% of all live births. Echocardiography is frequently preferred in the diagnosis and follow-up of diseases because it is practical and noninvazive. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the frequency, types and clinical findings of congenital heart diseases in babies admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for different reasons. Methods: The study was conducted among the patients hospitalized in neonatal intensive care unit between January 2022 and January 2023. The patients were grouped according to their gestational week, presence of murmur, cyanosis, respiratory distress, genetic anomaly, Down syndrome maternal diabetes. The family history of consanguinity presence of congenital heart disease was recorded. Results: Two hundred thirty seven patients were included in our study. Boys constituted 59% of all patients. 60.34% of the patients were between 37-42 gestational weeks. Ages of the patients were 4,54 ± 8,90 days. Among acyanotic CHD, 30.2% had atrial septal defect (ASD), 23.6 % had patent ductus arteriosus, 18.4% had ventricular septal defect (VSD). Among the cyanotic CHD, transposition of great arteries, hypoplastic left heart syndrome, truncus arteriozus were present. The most common reason for which echocardiography was requested was respiratory distress. The most common reason for evaluation in cyanotic patients was cyanosis. Infants of diabetic mothers constituted 3.8% of the patients. 0.84% of the patients had Down syndrome and 2.95% of the patients had genetic/congenital anomalies and no significant relationship was stated with congenital heart diseases. The frequency of familial consanguinity was 4.2%. ASD or VSD were detected in 4 of the patients with family consanguinity. Conclusion: Congenital heart diseases are frequently encountered in the neonatal period. Acyanotic heart diseases are mostly included in congenital heart defects. Echocardiography is recommended in newborns with respiratory distress, cyanosis and murmur.

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