Harish G V¹, Priyanka Kalyani²

¹Assistant Professor,²Postgraduate Student, Department of Pediatrics, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, Telangana, India.

Address for correspondence: Dr. Harish G V, Assistant Professor, Department Of Pediatrics, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, Telangana, India.

Email: drharish82@gmail.com

Background: Recurrent respiratory tract infections are common cause of morbidity globally.Some congenital heart diseases that cause increased pulmonary blood flow is a common predisposing factor for a recurrent Respiratory tract infection (RTI) ,the rate of recurrent RTI is estimated to be 1.3 episodes per child per year

Objective: The present study helps to determine the underlying congenital heart disease in children with recurrent respiratory tract infections in children seen in a tertiary hospital.

Materials and Methods The present study was conducted in Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, over a 6 months period. Children diagnosed as recurrent respiratory tract infections were evaluated echocardiographically for Congenital Heart Disease. Certain features in children with recurrent RTI and Congenital Heart Disease were compared to those without Congenital Heart Disease.

Results : Out of 370 admissions in PICU from June 2016 to December 2016, a total of 40 children presented with recurrent RTI of which 28(72.5%) were males,12(27.5%) were females, 4 cases had Congenital heart disease which are acyanotic , out of these 2 cases are large size Atrial Septal Defect,one case is Patent Ductus Arteriosus, one case is perimembranous Ventricular Septal Defect. The prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease was 10%. Most of the patients 25 (62.5%) were in the low socio economic class, 13 (32.5%) were in the middle class, 2(5%) were in the high socio economic class. Out of the 4 children with Congenital Heart disease, one child(25%) born out of consanguinous marriage.

Conclusion : The children with congenital heart disease were more likely to have murmur and heart failure compared to those without congenital heart disease.Prevalence of Congenital Heart Disease in children with recurrent RTI in this study is high,evaluation of children with recurrent RTI for Congenital Heart Disease is therefore recommended.

Keywords : Congenital heart disease,recurrent respiratory tract infections,pneumonia