Congenital heart defects account for 3% of all infant deaths, with 18-25% of affected infants dying in the first year of life. Early (pre-symptomatic) identification helps improve outcome.1 Routine prenatal anomaly scans detect less than half of cardiac defects,23 hence detection after birth remains important. Only families with a high risk of congenital heart defects are offered foetal echocardiography.The UK National Screening -Committee's newborn screening policy comprises clinical examination at birth and at 6-8 weeks, with specific cardiac investigations for high-risk children.We conducted a 3-year retrospective study in mid-Essex evaluating the detection of congenital heart defects, during postnatal and 6-8 week examinations from September 2004 to August 2007 on 55 infants born in mid-Essex with a confirmed diagnosis of congenital heart defects. Twenty infants identified either antenatally or diagnosed while admitted in the neonatal unit for other indications or detected by active case finding because comorbid conditions were excluded.
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