Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease Among Preterm Newborns Between 28 and 35 Weeks Admitted at Al Bayda Medical Center, Libya (2021)

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are defined as structural abnormalities of the heart. CHD can be simple (isolated lesions) or complex (multiple lesions). Premature infant (newborn delivered before 37 weeks of geospatial age). This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of CHD among very preterm to moderate premature newborns and to investigate associated risk and mortality. A prospective cohort study was designed with concurrent timing of data collection and was carried out in the Department of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Al Bayda Medical Center (2021), Gestational age was calculated as postnatal assessment by the Dubowitz/Ballard method. Echocardiography was done to identify the presence and types of congenital heart defects. Out of 60 admitted preterm infants, 43 were found to have congenital heart disease. The prevalence rate was (71.67%) of admissions. Out of the total defects, Echocardiographic findings showed that atrial septal defect (ASD) was the most common structural defect no=30 (69.77%), (Patent ductus arteriosus) PDA no=12 (27.91%), and ventricular septal defect (VSD) no=10 (23.26%). Of the studied premature infants, 9 patients died during the study period. The case fatality rate (CFR) was (15%). Death rates were higher for premature neonates with CHD 7 (16.3%) than those with normal hearts, which were 2 (11.8%), but the observed difference was statistically not significant. Congenital heart anomalies are not significantly associated with birth weight and gender or maternal age, consanguinity, maternal socioeconomic state, and maternal illness. Conclusion: CHD was found to be high among preterm. The most common heart defect was ASD, followed by PDA and VSD.