The pattern and frequency of congenital heart disease among blacks.

The types of cardiac malformations in 804 black patients of all ages in whom the diagnosis was confirmed by cardiac catheterization, surgery or autopsy are reported. The most frequent anomalies were ventricular septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus and tetralogy of Fallot. Among infants under 1 year of age, complete transposition of the great vessels accounted for the third-largest group of malformations. While pulmonary venous anomalies were extremely rare and hypoplastic left heart defects rare in the neonate, it is not considered that a racial predilection for differences in the frequency of various cardiac malformations exists. The frequency of coarctation of the aorta in the group as a whole was not lower than that found in studies among whites. Among black patients of all ages with heart disease (studied in a hospital environment) congenital cardiac malformations ranked as the second most common form of heart disease with a frequency of 26%. Among children aged 15 years or less, congenital heart disease ranked first with a frequency of 53%. It is suggested that a diagnosis of congenital heart disease is not made in the majority of blacks born with such malformations.