Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development

Congenital heart disease is a very significant health problem and the leading cause of death in children with congenital malformations. The aims of this observational cross sectional study is to decrease morbidity and mortality among patients with CHD by early detection of cardiac lesion using clinical evaluation, radiological, ECG, Echo finding. This study involved (204) patients attended to pediatrics cardiac clinic in Tikrit Teaching Hospital (106 females and 98 males). between 204 cases of CHD studied, ventricular septal defect present in 32% of cases. CHD was higher in females than males, and the most affected age group was 1–5 years. The most common symptom was of congestive heart failure and recurrent chest infection and most common sign was heart murmur. It is concluded that early detection of neonatal CHD remains challenging because clinical findings may be subtle or absent immediately after birth, and prenatal screening does not reliably detect all cases of CHD.