Epidemiology of adult congenital heart disease among the general population in Kuwait.

Background: Adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) is a highly underrepresented entity in medical literature, especially in the middle-eastern region.

Hypothesis: This study is the first to assess the prevalence of adult congenital heart disease among the population of Kuwait.

Methods: After a retrospective register review of patients in Kuwait being followed up in the chest diseases hospital was conducted, patients who fit the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. Using the American College of Cardiology Task Force 1 of the 32nd Bethesda conference classification of the severity of ACHD, the patients were classified into those with simple, moderate, and complex congenital heart diseases. The age and gender of the patients, as well as the type repair performed, and the residual cardiac findings were recorded to assess the association between the complexity and residuals. Associations were assessed using STATA 15.

Results: A total of 611 patients were evaluated over a period of 18 months. The youngest participant was 20 years of age, and the oldest participant was 88 years old. Male participants with moderate congenital heart disease class were more common in our study population. Patients with complex congenital heart disease have more residual cardiac lesion than the moderate or simple groups. Almost (70%) of patients with complex cardiac anomalies have undergone either partial or complete repair. The most prevalent cardiac defect was atrial septal defect (21.5%). Tetralogy of Fallot was the most prevalent defect in the moderate group, representing (13%) of the group. The most prevalent anomaly in the complex group was double outlet right ventricle (DORV) representing (15.38%).

Conclusion: Adult Congenital heart disease is a growing entity of heart disease due to advanced repair techniques. This population requires registries to document cases and assign specialists for the management and care of this special group of patients.

Highlights: First database of adult congenital heart disease in Kuwait. The most prevalent heart defect was ASD in Kuwait. TOF was the most prevalent defect in the moderate group; and DORV was the most prevalent in the complex group. Patients with moderate ACHD tended to have a more complete repair than those in the complex group.