lnnocent Murmurs in Pediatric Patients Treated at the Cardiology Service, Hospital María, Especialidades Pediátricas.

Abstract

Objetives: to describe the clinicalepidemiological characteristics of pediatric patients with innocent murmur treated in the Cardiology Service of Hospital María, Especialidades Pediátricas.

Methods: a cross-sectional descriptiva study was carried out in patients under 18 years of age with a diagnosis of innocent murmur treated in the outpatient department of the cardiology service of Hospital María, Especialidades Pediátricas (HMEP) during the period 2015-2020. The universe was 2401 patients diagnosed with innocent murmur. The sample was 323 patients with a confidence interval of 95%. The following inclusion criteria were considered: patient diagnosed with innocent murmurs by a pediatric cardiologist, age between 0-18 years old, care provided between 2015-2020. Clinical records with more than 20% of incomplete variables of interest were excluded. The sampling was simple random probabilistic. Those clinical files with more than 20% of incomplete variables were excluded. The collection was done through a previously structured questionnaire. Univariate descriptive data analysis was performed on nominal and ordinal qualitative variables with relative and absolute frequencies with the STATA 15 program.

Results: a total of 323 patients were studied. The age group with the highest frequency was preschool children with 41.18% (133/323), followed by school children with 30-65% (99/323). 64.09% (207/323) were male. The patients carne from all regions of the country, mainly from thecentral region, which represented 69.66% (225/323) followed by the eastern region with 16.72% (54/323). Hospitals were in in 52.6% (170/323) the center that referred the most, being sent by Specalist doctor in 39.2% of the cases. In 76.47% (247/323) of cases, the murmur was the only clinical manifestation. AII patients underwent echocardiography. AII patients underwent echocardiography, which was normal in 96.2% (311/323) of cases, in 1.2% (4/323) aortic acceleration was found. Conclusion: innocent murmur is a frequent reason for consulting a pediatric cardiologist. lt is the responsibility of primary care physicians to recognize the distinctive characteristics of murmurs so that sings indicating heart disease are correctly identified and promptly referred.