What is Congenital Heart Disease?

Out of every 1,000 children born, 8 to 10 have congenital heart disease. Congenital heart disease is a kind of malformation or heart defect that exists somewhere in the heart. Often times it is a defect that can be found in one of the blood vessels of the heart. It is defined as congenital because the defect is present when a baby is born. It is strongly believed that these types of heart defects take place while the fetus is developing but it is not clear at what stage throughout the nine months that it takes hold.

While some babies show symptoms of congenital heart defects from the very start of their lives, still other people won't show symptoms until later in their childhoods. Sometimes a congenital heart defect is not discovered until a person has become an adult and it's estimated that 500,000 American adults suffer from congenital heart disease.

The risk for the general population is eight in 1000 but it becomes 16 in 1000 for those who have a family member with it. If someone in the family such as a parent, grandparent or brother or sister was born with a congenital heart defect then the risk of a child in the family being born with it is even higher.

Doctors and medical researchers have discovered factors that seem to suggest an increased risk of developing congenital heart disease. One of these risk factors is a chromosomal abnormality or a genetic abnormality such as Down syndrome. Women who drink alcohol, use drugs or take specific types of medication during the period of their pregnancy are more likely to give birth to children with congenital heart defects. When a woman contracts a maternal viral infection such as German measles (also known as rubella) during the first trimester of her pregnancy she is more likely to give birth to a child with congenital heart disease.

Congenital heart disease can have symptoms but a lot of times there are no symptoms what so ever. Sometimes it is necessary to undergo medical tests to determine whether or not a person has congenital heart disease. The two most common symptoms are shortness of breath and a decreased ability for exercise.

There is more than one type of congenital heart disease. Heart valve defects are very common and these are stenosis or narrowing of the heart valves or in severe cases, valves that are narrowed to the point that they do not allow blood through at all. Leaky valves also fall under the category of heart valve defects. Atrial and ventricular septal defects which are "defects in the walls between the atria and ventricles of the heart" cause oxygenated and unoxygenated blood to mix which can cause problems in both the right and left areas of the heart. Another type of congenital heart disease is abnormalities in the heart muscle, which can then cause heart failure.