Neðst á síðunni er hægt að nálgast greinina í heild sinni með því að smella á hlekkinn View/OpenObjective: Several investigations have been published on the incidence of congenital heart defects (CHD), showing the incidence to be 0.8-1.1%. Few studies have dealt with the incidence of CHD in twins, but they indicate higher incidence of CHD among twins compared to singletons. The purpose of this study was to investigate the incidence of CHD and the different types of defects among twins born in Iceland over a 10 year period and compare the data to the incidence of CHD in the Icelandic population. Material and methods: Information was obtained on all twins born alive in Iceland from 1986-1995 at the Icelandic Statistical Bureau. That list was compared to a list of all children born in Iceland over the same period and diagnosed with CHD, thus finding all twins with diagnosed CHD. The incidence of CHD for the period of 1986-1990 and 1991-1995 was studied separately. Causes of death, whether the patients needed treatment or not, and the results of treatment were studied. Chi-squared test for statistical analysis was used when appropriate. Results: Incidence: Of 1089 liveborn twins 35 had CHD or 3.21% compared to an incidence rate of 1.0% among singletons, which is a statistically significant difference (p0.05). Twin types: Of the twins with CHD 34% were male-female pairs, 26% were male-male pairs and 40% were female-female pairs. Age at diagnosis: Thirteen patients were diagnosed in the first week of life and 20 from one week to five months of age. After six months of age only two patients have been diag¬nosed with CHD. Treatment: Twelve patients have been operated for CHD, one patient was treated in an interventional cardiac catheterization and 10 patients received medical treatment. Mortality: Six twins died as a consequence of their heart defect (17%). The mortality rate was significantly higher among twins with major CHD compared to the control population (p0,05). Samsetning tvíburahópsins: Af tvíburum með hjartagalla voru 34% pör þar sem annar tvíburinn var drengur en hinn stúlka, 26% voru drengjapör og 40% stúlknapör. Aldur við greiningu: Flestir tvíburanna greindust á fyrstu fimm mánuðum ævinnar. Einungis tvö börn hafa greinst eftir sex mánaða aldur. Meðferð: Tólf barnanna hafa gengist undir hjartaskurðaðgerð, eitt var meðhöndlað í hjartaþræðingu og 10 hafa fengið lyfjameðferð. Dánartíðni: Sex tvíburar létust vegna afleiðinga hjartagallans (17%). Dánartíðnin meðal tvíburanna er marktækt hærri en meðal samanburðarhóps (p<0,005). Ályktun: Meðfæddir hjartagallar eru algengari meðal tvíbura en hjá samanburðarhópi. Nýgengi þeirra er hærra á seinni hluta rannsóknartímabilsins. Dánartíðni er einnig hærri meðal tvíburanna. Árið 1991 hófust glasafrjóvganir á Íslandi sem leiddu til mikillar fjölgunar tvíburafæðinga. Frá sama tíma eykst nýgengi meðfæddra hjartagalla meðal tvíbura. Frekari rannsókna er þörf til að kanna möguleg tengsl þessa
