Congenital Heart Disease Support Group

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A Look at Congenital Heart Disease

Congenital heart disease is a kind of malformation or heart defect that exists somewhere in the heart. In some cases 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 quote 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. Out of every 1, 000 children born, 8 to 10 have congenital heart disease.

Some babies show symptoms of congenital heart defects from the very growing of their lives while other people will not show symptoms under later in their childhoods. In other cases a congenital heart defect is not discovered until a person has become an adult. It is estimated that 500, 000 American adults suffer from congenital heart disease.

Trying to discover the cause of congenital heart disease is not easy. Most of the time the cause of it is not published. Doctors and medical researchers have discovered factors that do seem to suggest an increased risk of growing congenital heart disease however. 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.

If someone in the family such as a author, 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. For nonpareil, 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.

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 extreme cases, valves that are narrowed to the dab 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.

Congenital heart disease can cause symptoms but often times there are no symptoms at all. Sometimes it is necessary to undergo medical tests to determine whether or not a man has congenital heart disease. If symptoms do show themselves the two most common are shortness of breath and a decreased ability for exercise.

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