A congenital heart defect means it was present at birth (congenital) and it is an abnormality of the heart or blood vessels near the heart that don't develop normally before birth. In most cases, it is unknown what caused the defect. Some known things that can interfere with the developing baby's heart can include; German measles (rubella), viral diseases, maternal diseases (diabetes, phenylketonuria or PKU, seizure disorders, and lupus), heredity, chromosome abnormalities (Down syndrome, trisomy 18 and trisomy 13, Turner's syndrome, Cri du chat syndrome, Wolf-Hirshhorn syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome or deletion 22q11), single gene defects (Marfan syndrome, Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome, Ellis-van Creveld, Holt-Oram syndrome, Noonan syndrom, Mucopolysaccharidoses), and other syndromes (Goldenhar syndrome or hemifacial microsomia, William's syndrome, and the
VACTERL association which is tracheal and esophageal malformations associated
with vertebral, anorectal, cardiac, renal, radial, and limb
abnormalities make up the VACTERL syndrome), prescription and over-the-counter medications, street drugs, and alcohol. According to the American Heart Association at least 8 of every 1,000 baby's born (about 1%) have a heart defect and in the US about 40,000 are born each year. Sometimes the defect is mild and the baby shows no obvious symptoms and sometimes the baby is critically ill. Most critical defects are found prenatally or as a newborn.
Here are some resources for further information.
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/
http://www.mayoclinic.com
http://www.heart.org
http://www.childrensheartfoundation.org
http://pediheart.org
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