Congenital Heart Disease in Taiwan, Republic of China

Abstract

A review of 5 years' experience with congenital heart disease in National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China, shows that congenital aortic valvar and supravalvar stenosis are not seen and the incidence of coarctation is very low. Statistics on congenital heart disease as reported in studies on all groups of patients from several other Asian countries were collected and compared with those from European and North American countries. The low incidence for the two mentioned congenital cardiac defects in the reports from Asian countries is probably not due to chance, but may represent a true difference in incidence. In the discussion of etiological factors possibly responsible for the low incidence of coarctation and aortic stenosis, it is postulated that dietary factors may be responsible for the observed differences in incidence.