OBJECTIVETo examine the incidence of congenital heart disease (CHD) in children aged 0-3 years in the rural areas of Chongqing, and to determine the suitable "screening-diagnosis-follow-up" system and screening indicators for CHD in these areas.

METHODSChildren aged 0-3 years from rural areas of the Fuling Disctrict of Chongqing were selected by cluster sampling. Using the "screening-diagnosis-evaluation system" employed at the levels of village/town, district/county, and province/city, the children were screened for seven indicators, i.e., family history of CHD, dyspnea, cyanosis, unique facial features, other congenital malformations, heart murmurs, and blood oxygen saturation (SpO<95%). Children who were positive for one or more indicators accepted echocardiography (ECG) for the diagnosis of CHD. CHD patients were evaluated for disease progression, given guided treatments, and followed-up by pediatric cardiologists.

RESULTSScreening was performed for 10 005 out of the 10 281 children enrolled in the study (97.32% response rate). Among the 175 children who were positive for the indicators, 166 underwent ECG and 60 (0.6‰) were diagnosed with CHD, including 46 cases of simple CHD (76.65%), 11 cases of combined CHD (18.33%), and 3 cases of complex CHD (5.00%). Of the 7 screening indicators, heart murmur had the largest area under the ROC curve for the diagnosis of CHD. In addition, a combination of screening indicators (heart murmur, unique facial features, and other congenital malformations) was most effective for screening out CHD. The CHD patients were given surgical or intervention treatments, and followed up for 6 to 18 months. Ten patients improved without treatment, 13 patients received interventional or surgical treatment, 1 patient died of non-cardiac reasons. The remaining 36 patients were subjected to further follow-up.

CONCLUSIONSHeart murmur alone and in combination with unique facial features and other congenital malformations are valuable tools for CHD screening in children aged 0-3 years. The "village/town-district/county-province/city" screening-diagnosis-evaluation systems are useful for the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of CHD in infants and young children from the rural areas of Chongqing.