Is the prevalence of specific types of congenital heart defects different for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black and Hispanic infants?

Background: Our purpose was to determine the prevalence of specific types of CHD among non-Hispanic (NH)-Black, NH-White, and Hispanic infants.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study with 9,352 singleton infants diagnosed with conotruncal, right or left obstructive or septal CHDs from the Florida Birth Defects Registry, born 1998-2003 to resident NH-White, NH-Black, and Hispanic women aged 15-49. Defect-specific prevalence rates, prevalence ratios and P-values were calculated for each type of CHD and by number of defects for each racial/ethnic group.

Results: Compared to NH-Whites, NH-Blacks had higher rates of pulmonary valve atresia/stenosis but lower frequency of aortic valve atresia/stenosis and ventricular septal defect. Hispanics had lower rates of aortic valve atresia/stenosis and atrioventricular septal defects than NH-Whites.

Conclusions: Although few racial/ethnic differences in prevalence are present among infants with major CHD, observed differences are clinically meaningful. However, the underlying etiologies for the observed differences remain unknown.