Introduction:

Down’s syndrome is most common chromosomal alteration amongst humans, and it is mostly associated to congenital heart diseases, the main cause of mortality during the first

years of life.

Motivation:

To describe the frequency of each congenial heart disease and their clinical characteristics in children with Down’s syndrome at the Cardio VID Clinic in Medellín.

Methods:

Observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study conducted in the Cardio VID Clinic with patients diagnosed with Down’s syndrome and congenital heart diseases between January

1st 2010 and December 31st 2013.

Results:

99 patients meeting all selection criteria were selected, with an average age of 8.1 months, 52 (52.5%) female. According to their medical records, the most common congenital

heart diseases in children with Down’s syndrome were perimembranous ventricular septal defect in 61 cases (61.6%), atrial septal defect in 46 (46.5%) and ductus arteriosus in 38 (38.4%).

Conclusion:

To our knowledge it is the first epidemiological study regarding the frequency and type of congenital heart diseases found in Colombian children with Down’s syndrome in a cardiovascular

centre. The high frequency of ventricular septal defect and differential distribution of heart defects associated with Down’s syndrome in the population differ to the data reported in other studies.

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