Global Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease at High Altitude ~9 Percent

THURSDAY, Sept. 26, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The global prevalence of congenital heart disease (CHD) at high altitude is 8.97 percent, according to the results of a review presented at the American College of Cardiology Latin America 2024, held from Sept. 19 to 21 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Jean Pierre Eduardo Zila Velasque, from Red Latinoamericana de Medicina en la Altitud e Investigación in Peru, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to globally characterize CHD in populations based at different altitudinal levels.

Based on data from 22 studies (roughly 1.18 million participants from eight different countries), the researchers found that the prevalence of CHD in the general population was 8.97 percent and was higher in women. The global prevalence varied by altitude: 6.80 percent at 1,500 to 2,500 m, 14.47 percent at 2,500 to 3,500 m, 7.26 percent at 3,500 to 4,500 m, and 1.52 percent at 4,500 m. Atrial septal defect (29.9 percent) was the most frequent heart disease. Rural environments (7.86 percent), native people (12.70 percent), and American countries (32.44 percent) showed higher prevalence.

"The evidence on congenital heart disease is underestimated and underdiagnosed; due to, poor access to the health system or health systems without the essential tools that are characteristic of high-altitude environments; raising concerns that we are likely facing much higher altitude-associated congenital heart disease values than is known," the authors write.

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