Congenital heart disease (CHD) remains the commonest cause of death from structural birth defect. It is generally accepted that 8 per 1,000 live births result in CHD 1. However, reported prevalence of CHD varies widely among large epidemiological studies 2-8. The precise prevalence data are obviously important as a measure of the disease burden and for various healthcare policies. The incidence of CHD in live births is loosely referred to as prevalence of CHD in many studies, and studies in older children report spot prevalence of CHD: the authors also refer to the disease burden as prevalence of CHD in this article.
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