Background: Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are shown to have an association with maternal diabetes mellitus. The Bahraini population has a high prevalence of diabetes 16.3% thus putting it at increased risk of developing CHDs in infants of diabetic mothers (IDMs).
Objective: Describing the prevalence of CHDs in IDM in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Design: A retrospective clinical study.
Setting: Bahrain Defense Force Hospital, Kingdom of Bahrain.
Methods: The study took place from January 1998 to January 2020. A history was recorded for all patients who were referred to the only tertiary cardiac center in Bahrain for echocardiography. Data was recorded on an Excel Sheet for analysis. A cardiac anatomy survey was conducted by an experienced pediatric cardiologist for each patient and the defects were categorized into acyanotic and cyanotic lesions.
Results: Five thousand five hundred sixty-nine patients were referred for cardiac echocardiography. Three thousand two hundred fifty-six patients were diagnosed with CHDs, 2,987 were non-IDM whereas 269 were IDM. Patients diagnosed with non-structural defects were excluded. Atrial septal defect (ASD) was identified in 744 patients and was more likely to occur in non-IDM (p-value = .005). Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) was identified in 35 patients and was more likely to occur in IDM (p-value < .001). Transposition of the great arteries (TGAs) was identified in 80 patients and was more likely to occur in IDM (p-value .002). Double inlet left ventricle (DILV), Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HPLHS), and Other Uni-Ventricular Hearts were all more likely to occur in IDM with p-values < .05.
Conclusion: This study showed significant association between fetal exposure to diabetes and the development of ASD, HOCM, TGA, DILV, HPLHS, and Other Uni-Ventricular Hearts.
Keywords: congenital; diabetes; disease; heart; maternal.
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