Elsevier

American Heart Journal

Volume 150, Issue 3, September 2005, Pages 513-515
American Heart Journal

Clinical Investigation
Imaging and Diagnostic Testing
The prevalence of bicuspid aortic valve in newborns by echocardiographic screening

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahj.2004.10.036Get rights and content

Background

This study was carried out to determine the true prevalence of bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) in newborns, which has not yet been determined.

Methods

One thousand seventy five live born neonates (567 male neonates, 508 female neonates; gestational ages ranging from 27 to 42 weeks, and birth weights ranging from 720 to 4780 g) were screened by transthoracic 2-dimensional echocardiography to assess the prevalence of BAV.

Results and conclusion

BAV was identified in a prevalence of 4.6 in 1000 live births. The prevalence of BAV by sex was 7.1 of 1000 in male neonates, and 1.9 of 1000 in female neonates. All newborns with BAV were asymptomatic. Mild aortic regurgitation was found in only 1 neonate with BAV. Because BAV may result in aortic valvular stenosis and/or regurgitation, a recommendation of regular follow-ups and antibiotic prophylaxis for infective endocarditis should be necessary.

Section snippets

Methods

All live born consecutive neonates delivered at Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of a university hospital in a period from May 2002 to May 2003 were included in the study group. Parental consents were obtained for each neonate. The ethics committee of our institution approved the study (approval no: 22-2002/402). All neonates were screened by 1 of the authors within the first 72 hours at the Department of Pediatric Cardiology of the same university hospital.

One thousand seventy five

Results

BAV was identified in 5 neonates without any other congenital cardiac or extracardiac malformations, with a prevalence of 4.6 in 1000 live births. Gestational ages and birth weights of 5 newborns (4 boys, 1 girl) with BAV ranging from 39 to 40 (mean ± SD = 39.4 ± 0.5) weeks and 3050 to 4500 (mean ± SD = 3459 ± 609) g, respectively. The prevalence of BAV by sex was 7.1 of 1000 in male neonates and 1.9 of 1000 in female neonates. All newborns with BAV were asymptomatic. None had an ejection click

Discussion

BAV is generally accepted as the most common congenital cardiac malformation, occurring in approximately 1% to 2% of the general population.1, 2 In previous studies, the prevalence of BAV was reported with a range of 0.59% to 1.37%, largely from autopsy series.2, 3, 4, 5

In the largest autopsy series, Larson and Edwards3 found 293 (1.37%) BAVs in 21 417 consecutive autopsies. However, they did not mention the sex distribution of cases. Pauperio et al4 evaluated 2000 aortic valves obtained from

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