Nearly 1% or 40,000 births (or nearly 1 in 100 babies) each year in the United States are affected by congenital heart disease (CHD), with approximately 25% of those infants having critical cardiac defects that require surgery or catheter-based intervention within the first year of life. Due to this high prevalence, in 2011 the Secretary of Health and Human Services recommended that pulse oximetry screening be added to the US Recommended Uniform Screening Panel as a means for detection not only for CHD but also other conditions, like sepsis. Currently, all 50 states have implemented policies that mandate screening for critical CHD. Survival of infants born with CHD depends on the severity of the defect, timing of diagnosis, and how the anomaly is treated. With improved detection and infant survival there is a growing population of older children and adults living with heart defects. Many centers have ongoing improvement efforts to individualize the care for the thriving population of CHD.
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Update: Nutrition for Congenital Heart Disease
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