Congenital heart diseases--a future burden for Papua New Guinea.

Only a small fraction (1 in 25) of CHD children in PNG (8) are detected by current screening methods. Of the estimated 11001400 (mean 1250) cases of CHD per year, a third (417) will require hospitalization in the first year of life because of symptoms (9,10); one-third (417) will require attention later in life and one-third (417) will experience little functional consequence. Of those hospitalized in the first year, one-half (208) will require cardiac surgery before their first birthday to prevent death. Thus, 625 of the 1250 CHD children (50%) will require surgery if they survive infancy. This estimate is remarkably similar to one reported by Dickinson (11), who calculated that 53% of CHD children require surgery.