Abstract：Objective To determine the incidence o f congenital heart disease (CHD) in newborns and the role of folic acid on reduc ing or preventing CHD in early pregnancy. Methods A prospective study was conducted on all the 31 470 live-births in Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Hospital from January 1st, 1992 to December 31st, 1998. The relatio nship between CHD and the maternal consumption of folic acid from 1 month before pregnancy to 3 months after pregnancy was studied. The patients recruited in th e study were women who gave birth to a total of 7 445 livebirths from Augu st 1st, 1996 to July 31st, 1998. Results We found 312 newborns with CHD (excluding simple PDA and VSD of <5 mm) of the 312 newborns, 298 were d etected by color Dopler echocardiogram (CDFM)and 14 by autopsy. The incidence wa s 9.91‰ with VSD 5.12‰ topping the list of CHD. Thirtytwo babies wit h complex heart disease died in the newborn period, with a mortality of 10.3% . The incidence of CHD was 7.43‰ in the folic acid group, and 15.17‰ in the nonfolic acid group. The difference was statistically significont between the 2 groups (P<0.01). RR was 0.4898, AR was 0.00774, and AR P was 51.02%. The incidence of severe complex cardiac deformity in the non folic acid group was 4.6 times that of the folic acid group. Of the 217 wome n discharging babies with CHD during January 1st, 1994 and December 31st, 1998,30.9% belonged to the folic acid group, and 69.1%to the nonfolic acid group. Seven severe complex deformity belonged to the folic acid group (11.4% ), and 34 the nonfolic acid group (22.7%). Conclusions The incidence of CHD was the highest in the newborn period. The incidence decrea sed with the death of severe complex heart disorders and the spontaneous closure of some cases of VSD and ASD. The main reason of a high detection rate of CHD w as due to the application of CDFM. Taking folic acid in early pregnancy may redu ce the incidence of CHD, especially the incidence of complex CHD.
YANG Jiang-Fan,XU Yue-Zhen,LI Ping et al. Incidence of Congenital Heart Disease in Newborns and Preventive Effect of Folic Acid on Pregnant Women[J]. CJCP, 2000, 2(5): 320-322.
