Black American Infants With Congenital Heart Disease Less Likely to Make it to Their First Birthday

Black American infants are more likely to pass away before the age of 1 when diagnosed with congenital heart disease, according to a new study.

Led by Kwadwo Danso, MD, a pediatrician from the University of Illinois College of Medicine who presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics, the study tracked data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2005 to 2019.

Looking at over 60.3 million live births, the researchers traced approximately 19,004 infant deaths from congenital heart diseases. Although the rate decreased by 25% in those years, falling from 36.1 infants diagnosed with heart abnormalities in 2005 to 27 in 2019, Black infants diagnosed with the disease were still more likely to pass away. 

Overall, they were 40% more likely to pass away in the first year of their lives compared to white infants with the same disease, signifying disparities in the distribution of treatment.

“The death rate in white infants decreased significantly but the rate in Black infants did not. Overall, we also found that Black infants died from these abnormal heart structures at a rate that was 1.4 times that of white infants,” said Danso per a press release. “Our findings may have implications for patient care and public health policy by serving as a foundation for additional studies to determine the drivers behind these disparities.”

Considered to be one of the most common types of defects in infants, congenital heart disease is categorized as a cardiovascular disease in which blood vessels are developed abnormally.

Currently, there are no cures for the disease, but treatment includes surgery, heart transplants and cardiac catheterizations. 

Previous studies have determined that Black and Hispanic infants have lower survival rates in part because of implicit bias that can come from healthcare providers. 

Researchers have previously found that there are notable factors that contribute to the higher rates of congenital heart disease that need to be addressed by physicians early on in Black mothers’ pregnancies.

These issues include a genetic predisposition to a higher risk of high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol levels. 

“One of the first steps is naming these factors and showing that there is a difference,” said pediatric cardiology fellow Stephanie Santana, M.D.. “Whether we change that factor by removing it, by educating mothers about it or by treating them with different medications, I think it opens the door.”