Facts about Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) or Congenital Heart Defect is the abnormality in the heart that develops before birth during the early stages of pregnancy when the baby’s heart is forming.

• Congenital Heart Disease affects approximately 40,000 babies born in the United States each year, making it the most common type of birth defect (CHOP)

• About 25% of babies with a CHD have a critical CHD. Infants with critical CHDs generally need surgery or other procedures in their first year of life. (CDC)

• CHDs are a leading cause of birth defect-associated infant illness and death. (CDC)

• Congenital heart disease is approximately 60 times more prevalent than childhood cancer (CHPHC)

• Nearly 1 in 100 babies are born with a heart defect in the United States each year. (CHPHC)

• Genetic or chromosomal abnormalities cause some heart defects. Other risk factors include maternal smoking (during pregnancy), maternal obesity, maternal diabetes and maternal infections such as rubella. (CHOP)

• There are 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most them. There is not yet a cure for any of them.

• In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD. (American Heart Association)

• Congenital heart defects occur frequently and are often life threatening, yet research into them is grossly underfunded in relation to the prevalence of the disease. (CHFN)

• Caring for children with heart defects is a challenging and complex endeavor that causes emotional and financial stress for families, and requires many hospital resources (CHOP)