Congenital Heart Defects Statistics

Types of Congenital Heart Defects

Birth defects are grouped into three major categories:

  1. structural/metabolic
  2. congenital infections
  3. other conditions

Birth defects of the heart and circulatory system affect more infants than any other type of birth defect of all infants born each year, approximately 1 in 115 has heart and/or circulatory defects.

March of Dimes Perinatal Data Center, 2000

 Cardiac Kids of Florida

How the Types Break Down
Cardiac Kids of Florida

Thousands of infants born each year have congenital cardiovascular defects.
Of those who have these defects:

  • 4–10 % have atrioventricular septal defect
  • 8–11 % have coarctation of the aorta
  • 9–14 % have tetralogy of Fallot
  • 10–11 % have transposition of the great arteries
  • 14–16 % have ventricular septal defects
  • 4–8 % have hypoplastic left heart syndrome

American Heart Association

The ABC's of Congenital Heart Disease