Prevalence of Arrhythmic Events in Paediatric Patients with Congenital Heart Disease-A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Introduction: Various types of arrhythmias occur in patients with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) and are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Knowledge regarding arrhythmias in CHD is important for safe and effective management of arrhythmia and in reduction of sudden cardiac deaths. Aim: To assess the profile of various arrhythmic events in children with CHD. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted over the period of three years (January 2018 to December 2020). Data were collected from the Department of Paediatrics of a tertiary care hospital in Durgapur, West Bengal, India. A total of 232 children of the age group 0-18 years, diagnosed with CHD were included in this study. Children who underwent cardiac intervention were excluded from the study. Age, sex, age at diagnosis, nature of CHD, clinical findings, Electrocardiogram (ECG) findings were recorded. Data analysis was performed using Fisher’s-exact test on Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 27.0 A p-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: A 20.3% children of 0-18 years of age with CHD had conduction abnormalities. Statistically significant association was found between atrial septal defect with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) (p-value <0.001) and atrial flutter (p-value=0.008), Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) with Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC) (p-value=0.0001), Atrioventricular (AV) canal defect with first degree AV block with (p-value=0.0004), Tetralogy Of Fallot (TOF) with Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) (p-value=0.021), L-Transposition of Great Vessels (L-TGA) with complete AV block (p-value=0.012), Ebstein’s anomaly with Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) (p-value <0.001). Conclusion: Specific conduction abnormalities are significantly associated with specific CHD. These results demand attention for effective management of arrhythmia and reduction of sudden cardiac death in children with CHD.