ABSTRACT
Introduction The incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) has been estimated at 6-12 per 1,000 live births depending on the population studied and the time of ascertainment.1-4 If bicuspid aortic valve and small septal defects are included, this figure becomes much higher, with estimations between 20 and 50 per 1,000 live births.5 Though several studies have evaluated the incidence of serious CHD in live-born infants and estimated it to be on the order of 3-4 per 1,000 births,2,6 data from nonselected populations in fetuses are less forthcoming. A Belgian study6 reported an incidence of 8.3% in euploid live-born and stillborn infants of 26 or more weeks’ gestation, and a study from Norway3 reported an incidence of 3.3% in a population-based sample. Of note is that an even higher incidence is expected in fetuses evaluated at an earlier gestation given spontaneous and intentional pregnancy termination in the presence of serious defects.
