Congenital Heart Disease

What is congenital heart disease?

Congenital means "present at birth". Congenital heart disease is a problem, or defect in the heart that a person has before they are born.

How often are people born with congenital heart disease?

Ten to twelve babies of every thousand babies born have a congenital heart defect. That is about 1% of babies born.

Are the babies very sick if they have congenital heart disease?

This is a "yes" and "no" answer.

Some babies born with heart defects are very sick. Before some babies are born, their parents may already know that the baby has a heart problem. They may have seen a heart doctor (cardiologist) to talk about the defect the baby has, before the baby is even born.

Other babies with congenital heart disease do not look sick when they are born. In fact, some people are an adult when they are told they have a congenital heart defect. Even though they are grown up when they find out, it is still a defect that they were born with. As a child and adult, they may not have had any problems.

How many congenital heart defects are there?

There are many, many kinds of congenital heart defects. Some are very serious and can be life threatening. They may need to be fixed right away with heart surgery. Others are not life threatening. They may never need to be fixed with heart surgery. A heart doctor (cardiologist) often sees congenital heart patients for their life.

Where can I find more information about congenital heart disease?

There are web sites that have a lot of information about congenital heart disease. There are sites that have information about children with congenital heart disease. There are sites that have information about adults with congenital heart disease. All these sites have excellent links that you may find helpful. These resources should be used as a general guideline only. Individual assessment, interpretations and advice by your cardiologist should always be your most important resource.

www.tchin.org - The Congenital Heart Information Network

www.cachnet.org - The Adult Congenital Heart Network

www.rch.org.au/cardiology - University of Melbourne, Australia

www.congenitalheartdefects.com - Congenital Heart Defects

www.americanheart.org/children - The American Heart  Association

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