Prevalence of chest wall deformities in a large sample of Iranian children aged 7-14 years

Objective: Pectus excavatum (PE) and pectus carinatum (PC) are two common chest deformities. We investigated the prevalence of chest wall deformities including PE and PC in Iranian population.

Methods: 25587 children and adolescents aged 7-14 years consisting of 13586 (53.1%) males and 12001 (46.9%) females were studied using cluster-stratified sampling method. Screening was clinical and based on descriptive findings. Suspected subjects with chest wall deformity were referred to the expert surgeon to confirm the diagnosis.

Findings: The prevalence of chest deformities in our population was 204 (1.03%). The mean age of subjects was 10.2±3.0 years. Of these subjects 124 (0.49%) [74 (54%) males and 50 (42%) females)] had PE and 80 (0.31%) [58 (72.5%) males and 22 (17.5%) females)] had PC.

Conclusion: The prevalence of PE seems to be very high in Iran. Special attention must be paid to diagnose and treat this problem in our population.