Prevalence of Heart Disease in Children at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in Pakistan

Prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in school children of urban Lahore

“…A more recent community-based survey from rural Pakistan which was randomised and based on echocardiography has shown a similar prevalence of 5.7 in 1000 7. The other epidemiological data are limited to hospital-based reports 8 9. As tertiary care centres are located in urban areas, only a few people mange to seek such treatment and such hospital-based data are unlikely to reflect the true prevalence in the vulnerable population of the community.…”

Pattern and frequency of pediatric congenital heart disease at the Cardiac Research Institute of Kabul Medical University, Afghanistan

“…Similar prevalence were reported in the in the National Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (NICVD), Karachi, Karachi (18.2%), and Lahore (19.2%). 6 The 3 rd most common pediatric cardiac lesion found in our study was PDA (8.08% of total CHD) which was seen 6.1 % of patients at NICVD, Karachi and 7.03% in Lahore. These figures clearly indicate that the pattern of congenital heart defects in three most common acyanotic CHD was similar in a neighboring country.…”

“…We found that among our CHD subjects, 20% had cyanotic heart disease and 80% had acyanotic heart disease, similar to results reported in both local and international studies. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] The ASD and VSD were the most common lesions in our study subjects. Of our CHD subjects, we noted that 103/235 (43.8%) had ASD, which was similar to results from previous studies in neighboring Pakistan, 32.1% at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), Lahore, 39.9% at the National Institute of Cardiology Karachi, and 38.16% at the Siddique Sadiq Memorial Trust Hospital, Gujranwala.…”

“…Rheumatic heart disease was the most common cause of presentation to our hospital (40%). Recent literature involving community and school based studies from Pakistan has also confirmed that rheumatic heart disease continues to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the pediatric population despite drastic drops in the incidence of rheumatic heart disease in the rest of the world.1 [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Early detection and surgical intervention in developed countries have provided a significant chance of survival in children with CHD, but unfortunately in developing countries like Afghanistan the facilities for diagnosis and treatment of children with CHD are very limited and very expansive and beyond the reach of poor people. As such, many children die at early age, before diagnosis has been established.…”

“…3 A systematic review mentioned, that in Asia, the highest total birth prevalence of CHD was 8/1,000 live births. 6 Other study has shown that in developing countries, the burden of CHDs continues to rise, due to increases in risk factors and etiological factors for such defects, including infection during pregnancy and older maternal age. The incidence of CHD in Afghanistan is likely much higher than what has been reported in the literature.…”