Is there an epidemic of ventricular septal defects in the U.S.A.? Lancet 1980 Feb 23;1(8165):407-8
Date
02/23/1980Pubmed ID
6101855DOI
10.1016/s0140-6736(80)90954-xScopus ID
2-s2.0-0018899706 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 46 CitationsAbstract
In the past 10 yr the reported incidence of ventricular septal defect (VSD) has increased more than two-fold in two American birth-defects surveillance systems--the Metropolitan Atlanta Congenital Defects Program and the nationwide Birth Defects Monitoring Program. To test the hypothesis that this increase was caused by improved clinical diagnosis, resulting in the diagnosis of minor VSDs, we conducted a follow-up investigation of infants with VSD in the Atlanta area. We compared the rate of spontaneous closure by 1 yr of age of VSDs diagnosed during 1970--72 with the closure rate during 1975--76. If the recently increased incidence was caused entirely by better diagnosis of minor defects that are likely to close spontaneously, we would have expected a much higher rate of spontaneous closure in the later period. In fact, the rate of spontaneous closure by 1 yr was almost identical for both periods (23.8% and 23.9%). The considerable recent increase in the reported incidence of VSD cannot be simply due to better diagnosis.
Author List
Layde PM, Dooley K, Erickson JD, Edmonds LDAuthor
Peter M. Layde MS, MD Emeritus Professor in the Emergency Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Disease OutbreaksFemale
Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular
Humans
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Male
United States
