9 Things Every Pregnant Woman Should Know About Congenital Heart Defects

Every pregnancy is at risk

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), 40,000 babies are born with heart defects annually. The staggering number is just as frustrating for researchers as it is for heart specialists, especially because most of the defects have no known cause. Anita Moon-Grady, MD, professor of pediatrics and director of the fetal cardiovascular program at University of California San Francisco, says, “Of the eight out of every 1,000 babies affected by CHD, the severity of the condition ranges from mild to requiring treatment within the first year of life.” She estimates it’s about three out of those 1,000 babies that will need to have intervention before their first birthday. “Women need to know that they’re at risk during pregnancy because the majority of babies with CHD are born to women with no identifiable risk,” says Dr. Moon-Grady.