What is the incidence of congenital heart disease?

What is the incidence of congenital heart disease?

The incidence of congenital heart disease is approxi-mately 6–8:1,000 live births. Once considered rare, the incidence of congenital heart disease has increased second-ary to increased awareness and improvements in diagnos-tic testing and medical treatments of the critically ill. This means that 40,000 children are born each year with con-genital heart disease. The most common cardiac lesions present with a systolic murmur (Table 69.1). The main consequences of significant congenital heart disease are congestive heart failure and/or cyanosis.