Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T03:36:06.421Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Declining mortality from congenital heart disease related to innovations in diagnosis and treatment: a population-based study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2008

Victor Grech  and
Charles Savorja-Ventura
Victor Grech*
Affiliation:
paediatric Department and Gynaecology, St Luke's Hospital, Guardamangia, Malta
Charles Savorja-Ventura
Affiliation:
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Luke's Hospital, Guardamangia, Malta
*
Victor Grech, MRCR Paediatric Department, St Luke's Hospital, Guardamangia, Malta. Tel: 241251 ext. 1471; Fax: 240176
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The majority of live births with severe congenital cardiac malformations that do not undergo intervention of some form die prematurely. The population of Malta provides an ideal closed cohort from which to monitor trends. We have observed a significant declining specific mortality from congenital heart disease, and circumstantial evidence relates this decline to the introduction of new techniques used in the diagnosis and treatment of these malformations.

Keywords

Heart defects-congenitalmortalitytrendsdiagnosissurgery
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , January 1999 , pp. 78 - 80
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.MacMahon, B, McKeown, T, Record, RG. The incidence and life expectation of children with congenital heart disease. Br Heart J 1953; 15: 121–129.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Grech, VEpidemiology and diagnosis of ventricular septal defect in Malta. Cardiol Young 1998; 8: 329–336.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3.Rashkind, WJ. Paediatric cardiology: a brief historical perspective. Pediatr Cardiol 1979; 1: 63–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.Tynan, M. Pediatric cardiology: then and now. Cardiol Young 1991; 1: 3–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Kachaner, J. Pediatric cardiology en route to the third millennium – un long fleuve tranquille? Cardiol Young 1994; 4: 315–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6. Central Office of Statistics. Census of Malta and Gozo. Malta, Central Office of Statistics (decennial publication).Google Scholar
7. Central Office of Statistics. Demographic review for the Maltese Islands. Malta, Central Office of Statistics (annual publication).Google Scholar
8.Galea Curmi, M. The hospitalisation of the Maltese patient abroad. Thesis, University of Malta, 1982.Google Scholar
9.Besterman, EM. Changes in cardiological practice over the past eighteen years. Practitioner 1982; 226: 487–493.Google ScholarPubMed