Does atrial septal defect (asd) or ventricular septal defect (vsd) occur in some population groups more than others?

Yes: ASD is more common in females 2-3/1, while vsd is only slightly more common. A variety of heart defects are frequently seen in chromasome defects, trisomies, deletions etc. Some Asian populations have a form of vsd at higher frequency. There are polygenic factors that increase risk within families with heart defects for offspring with a lesion.

Yes: Some types of chromosomal defects and some syndromes (not necessarily related to chromosome abnormalities) may have higher incidences of specific heart defects including asd's and vsd's. In general 8 out of every 1000 babies born will have a heart defect that will vary from the very simple to the very complex.