Congenital heart defects in West Virginia: Preliminary findings from an ecological study of effects of an industrial watershed on increased incidence.

OBJECTIVE

Congenital anomalies are the leading cause of infant death, with congenital heart (CHD) defects the most common type. The study objective was to evaluate the incidence of fetal CHD in a tertiary care medical center's obstetric population in West Virginia and map areas of possible environmental exposure.

METHODS

This was an observational study of patients with positive ultrasound screen for CHD from 1/1/2007-8/31/2016. An Optimized Hot Spot analysis and Ripley's K- Function was constructed to understand the effect of CHD in relation to proximity to chemical and coal extraction sites.

RESULTS

Of the 16,871 obstetric pregnancies, 206 (1.2%) had fetal CHD with ventriculoseptal defects the most common (88; 42.7%). The majority of cases of CHD followed the industrial watershed of the Kanawha River in West Virginia. Direct point source exposure suggests a relationship in cases of CHD within Kanawha River and surrounding areas. The observed K was significantly above the expected K across all 10 distance bands. The fourth distance band exhibited the larger difference at (37914), between the expected verses the observed K function.

CONCLUSION

Through spatial analysis, there appears to be a direct point source exposure for observed cases of f CHD along the industrial watershed of Kanawha County, West Virginia.