Assessment of Schoolchildren for Congenital Heart Disease Using Murmurs and Blood Pressure as Markers

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the major causes of cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. CHD among neonates and young children is responsible for the largest proportion of mortality (30-50%) caused by birth defects. Though there is a significantly reducing trend observed in both overall and infant mortality resulting from CHD in developed countries like USA and Europe, CHD contributes 14% among 10.3 million total deaths in India, with 1931 disability adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 (refs 2, 3).