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CHD Awareness Week - Proposed Blog Entries

Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week is feb 7 - 14, 2010.

In honor of promoting awareness of CHDs many of you have blogs on which you write about your life and that of your family. During CHD Awareness week do you want to write some blog entries focused on CHDs? Link to the blog entries from your facebook page or twitter. Link to other friends' stories so their readers can learn more about CHD too. Below we've listed ideas for blog posts and links to past blog entries. Check them out! Copy, link, share. :) Email us if you have new ideas and want to post here. or send us your link!

Proposed Blog Entries

• 7 People Who Helped Saved Your Child’s Life
• 7 CHD Statistics - see fb page for ideas
• 7 Reasons I Am Happy To Be CHD Mom
• 7 Heart Babies I Love
• 7 Frequently Asked Questions - see below for ideas
• 7 Ways You Can Help - see below for ideas
• 7 Bits of Advice for CHD Parents

1. What is a congenital heart defect? CHD’s are structural problems with the heart present at birth. They result when a mishap occurs during heart development soon after conception and often before the mother is aware she is pregnant. Defects range in severity from simple to problems, such as “holes” between chambers of the heart, to very severe malformations, such as complete absence of one or more chambers or valves.
2. Who is at risk to have a child with a congenital heart defect? Anyone can have a child with a congenital heart defect. Out of 1000 births, 8 babies will have some form of CHD, most of which are mild. If you or other family members have already had a baby with a heart defect, your risk of having a baby with heart disease may be higher.
3. How many people in the United States have a congenital heart defect? Estimates suggest that about 1,000,000 Americans have a congenital heart defect. Approximately 35,000 babies are born with a defect each year.
4. Why do congenital heart defects occur? Most of the time we do not know. Although the reason defects occur is presumed to be genetic, only a few genes have been discovered that have been linked to the presence of heart defects. Rarely the ingestion of some drugs and the occurrence of some infections during pregnancy can cause defects.
5. How can I tell if my baby or child has a congenital heart defect? Severe heart disease generally becomes evident during the first few months after birth. Some babies are blue or have very low blood pressure shortly after birth. Other defects cause breathing difficulties, feeding problems, or poor weight gain. Minor defects rarely cause symptoms. While most heart murmurs in children are normal, some may be due to defects.
6. How serious is the problem? CHD’s are the most common birth defect and are the number one cause of death from birth defects during the first year of life. Nearly twice as many children die from CHD in the United States each year as die from all forms of childhood cancers combined. Over 91,000 life years are lost each year in the US due to congenital heart disease. Charges for care exceed 2.2 billion dollars, for inpatient surgery alone.
7. Are things improving? Definitely. Overall mortality has significantly declined over the past few decades. For example, in the 1960s and 1970s the risk of dying following congenital heart surgery was about 30% and today it is around 5%.