Every year, nearly 2,000 children are born in Sweden with a heart defect. Some have mild heart defects, while about one in ten cases is acute and needs treatment as soon as the child is born.
Children with heart defects still have a good chance of surviving the first few years, and the outlook has improved significantly in recent decades. In 2000, 39 children under the age of five died; by 2024, the number of children who died had decreased to seven, according to the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation's compilation of statistics from the National Board of Health and Welfare.
Ultrasound
A major contributing factor to the increased survival rate is that around half of all cases are now detected during pregnancy in ultrasound examinations.
It is very important, because then you can prepare to diagnose and provide treatment immediately at delivery, says Kristina Sparreljung, Secretary General of the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation.
Another key factor is that the most complex cases have been concentrated in two operating units, in Lund and Gothenburg.
Concentrating specialist knowledge has improved treatments and surgical methods and increased survival, says Kristina Sparreljung.
Research
Nearly 40,000 children and adolescents in Sweden live with congenital heart disease, and the vast majority, 97 percent, reach adulthood. Here too, a positive development is seen - in 1980 the proportion was 85 percent.
However, adults with congenital heart defects are at greater risk of developing other cardiovascular diseases, and they do so earlier in life than people without congenital heart defects.
We need to do a lot more research on this, find out why it is like this, and what can be done to prevent it, says Kristina Sparreljung.
Anna Lena Wallström/TT
Facts: Congenital heart defects
TT
The most common types of congenital heart defects are atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect, that is, holes in the walls that separate the atria and the ventricles, respectively.
Other congenital heart defects include narrowing of the aortic valve, pulmonary valve or carotid artery.
Symptoms of congenital heart defects include:
heart murmur, bluish tone of lips and skin, labored breathing and fatigue.
Source: Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation
