Epidemiology of Congenital Heart Defects in Iran: A Systematic Review

Background: Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) accounts for more than 30% of all major congenital anomalies worldwide. Regional factors play an important role in the prevalence and incidence of CHDs. The aim of this systematic review was to summarize the incidence and prevalence of CHDs in Iran

Data sources: Medline, EMBASE, Web of Sciences, CINHAL, Google Scholar and PubMed, as well as the Persian (language) databases, plus references listed from relevant articles have been searched to address the research question.

Eligibility criteria: Either original studies or reviews/meta-analysis reporting the prevalence or/and incidence of CHDs among live births in Iran, in which diagnosis of CHD had been based on, at least, physical examination and echocardiography for diagnosing CHDs.

Study appraisal: In this systematic review registered to PROSPERO, the Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was used to appraise the quality of related studies, and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocol (PRISMA) was followed for reporting the results.

Result: Among 69 identified publications in English and Farsi, without time restrictions, only 4 studies were eligible to be included in the review. Totally, 114523 live births registered in the referral hospitals, for childbirth in Iran, had been examined for CHDs in which vary prevalence for CHDs were reported from 4 per 1000 in the North East to 8 per 1000 in the Northwest of the country.

Conclusions: high prevalent CHDs in Iran underscore the importance of culturally appropriate prevention and management strategies. Also, a wide range of CHD prevalence in different areas, in Iran, suggests epidemiological investigations, preferably a population-based study with adequate sample size or a study compromised all birth setting.

Keywords:Cardiac defect; Congenital heart disease; Cardiac anomaly; Prevalence; incidence