Association between Genitourinary and Congenital Heart Defects: A 52-year Case-Control Study of the Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations (ECLAMC)

Background Congenital urological anomalies are present in 4.3/10 thousand newborns, and their association with other anomalies may increase the overall mortality and disability. The present study establishes the risk of having congenital urological anomalies presenting associated cardiopathies. Methods We conducted a retrospective case-control study using the Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations (Estudio Colaborativo Latino Americano de Malformaciones Congénitas, ECLAMC, in Spanish). The analysis included all registered cases of congenital urological malformation from 1967 to 2019. Patients with or without associated heart defects were included for the statistical analysis. Odds ratios (ORs) were calculated using a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). We compared the variables with the Chi-squared test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, United States) software, version 27.0. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results A total of 7,767,161 newborns were evaluated, and 17,834 genital and upper urinary tract malformations were identified. Of these, 64.2% were genital anomalies, and 35.8% were abnormalities of the upper urinary tract. Genitourinary malformations and concomitant congenital heart defects (GU + C) were observed in 3.5% of the cases. Subjects with GU + C had a higher number of malformations (4.59 ± 2.3) than patients without heart defects (1.53 ± 1.58) (p < 0.000). The OR was of 3.61 (range: 1.86-7.00) for cloacal exstrophy, of 4.01 (range: 3.14-5.12) for imperforate anus, of 5.52 (range: 3.92-7.78) for horseshoe kidney, and of 13.7 (range: 6.65-28.22) for trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) with malformations of the upper urinary tract. Conclusion The association of congenital heart defects with urological anomalies is higher for complex congenital anomalies such as imperforate anus, cloacal exstrophy, and horseshoe kidney. Patients with urological abnormalities and Down syndrome have the highest likelihood.