Congenital heart defects (CHD) are anomalies of the heart that are present at birth. CHD causes one or more portions of the heart to develop abnormally. Heart defects originate in the early part of pregnancy when the heart is forming and can affect any of the different parts or functions of the heart.

Fast Facts

CHD is the most common birth defect and is the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths in the U.S.
40,000 infants are born with CHD each year in the U.S. One in every 85 babies has a heart defect. 4,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday. To put these numbers into perspective, one in every 800 to 1,000 babies is born with Down’s syndrome.
Statistics today show that due to misdiagnosis, lack of knowledge and awareness, plus complications of surgery, about 51% of deaths caused by CHD are children under the age of one year.

More than 50 % of all children born with a congenital heart defect will require at least one invasive surgery.

There are currently 35 distinct forms of CHD recognized. Common defects include a severely undeveloped half of the heart, a hole in the heart and missing arteries.

There is no known cause for CHD. CHD strikes children without regard to economic level, ethnic origin, sex, or geographic location.

In the U.S., twice as many children die from CHD each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD.

MattersoftheHeart-Online.com - Homepage of international CHD advocate, Sandra Kay.
Hope4TinyHearts.com - Homepage of the Chloe Duyck Memorial Fund
HLHS-Awareness-uk.com - UK home for CHD awareness
Chd-Ni.co.uk - CHD awareness and support in Northern Ireland
Congenital-Heart-Defects.co.uk - More CHD resources for families in the UK
Childrens-Heart-Fed.org.uk - Official homepage of the Children’s Heart Federation, a UK based charity serving families and children with CHD.
CHDFamilies.org - A nonprofit organization working to support Kansas City families with CHD
BabyHeartsPress.com - Publishing books of hope and healing by and for those in the CHD community

Online CHD Resources

Heartline.org.uk - Homepage of the Heartline organization, providing practical help for parents of children with CHD.

CHDQuilt.org - Information on the Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Quilt Project

BigLoveLittleHearts.org - Connecting underprivledged children in need of life saving heart surgery with the professionals and organizations that can save their lives..

OneHundredSquared.com - Social media awareness raising project for CHD

TheCHDSolution-Example.pbworks.com - Online social gathering place/information sharing site for the CHD community

AdventuresInPhilanthropy.com - Homepage of the Big Love Little Hearts founder.