All issues > Volume 28(3); 1985

Original Article

J Korean Pediatr Soc. 1985;28(3):258-262. Published online March 31, 1985.

Heart Disease Screening for Primary School Children.

Chang Yee Hong, In Sil Lee, Hee Ju Kim, Jung Hwan Choi, Hae Il Cheong, Jung Yun Choi, Yong Soo Yun

¹Dept, of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Seoul National University Seoul, Korea

Abstract

A heart disease screening program was performed on 15,685 primary school children in Seoul City from the first to sixth grade to estimate the prevalence of heart diseases. Among the 15,685 children examined, 45 were confirmed to have heart disease (2.9/1,000) Out of the 45 children, 38 had congenital heart disease(2.4/1,000) and 7 had rheumatic heart disease(0.4/1,000) and the ratio of congenital heart disease to rheumatic heart disease was 5.4 : 1. The relative frequency of each congenital disease is shown in Table 3. Ventricular septal defect was the most common (44.7%), and was followed by patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, pulmonic stenosis and tetralogy of Fallot. In 13 children (28.9%) out of the 45, the heart disease was recognized for the first time by this screening. Five children (13.2%) out of the 38 with congenital heart disease had previous cardiac surgery. Five children out of the seven with the rheumatic heart disease were being given secondary prophylaxis. Comparing the results of this study with that of 1974 with nine years interval there was no significant differences in prevalence rates of rheumatic heart disease as well as in congenital heart disease.

Keywords :Heart disease screening;Congenital heart disease;Rheumatic heart disease