Сongenital diseases of the heart among newborn children: genetic aspects

Abstract

Congenital heart defects are a heterogeneous group of diseases that occur as isolation or a part of multiple birth defects, gene disorders or chromosomal abnormalities. Chromosomal abnormalities and its underlying syndromes are the cause of 6 to 36% of cases of congenital heart defects. Monogenic etiology is proven in about 8% of cases, and the main group - about 90% of the congenital heart defects is the result of an unfavorable combination of genetic predisposition and external factors. The causes of early neonatal infant mortality are dominated by incompatible birth defects: almost 26% of perinatal and neonatal deaths are associated with congenital child pathology. Heart defects compose about 30% of all birth defects. They rank first place among the diseases that lead to perinatal mortality and early disability. World statistics show that the incidence of birth defects in the world is 9 per 1000 newborns, in Europe - 8/1000, which is 4 times more frequent than neural tube defects and 6 times higher than chromosomal abnormalities. In Ukraine, about 5,000 children with congenital heart defects are born each year, and the total number of those children on dispensary records reaches more than 45,000. Knowledge about the prevalence of birth defects in the region is needed to develop new information markers of the risk of congenital pathology of the circulatory system for women of reproductive age. Data on the incidence of congenital heart defects of fetuses and newborns in the region will allow the creation of a database for follow-up studies, which will facilitate the timely identification of pregnant women at risk. This will improve the prognosis of pregnancy, reduce the level of perinatal pathology, which will have a significant medical and social effect. The data obtained will allow to create preconditions for improvement of approaches to the definition of risk groups of perinatal pathology, perfection of specialized care for pregnant women with risk of congenital heart defects of the fetus.