The story that has spread like wildfire across the globe last week (aside from Jade Goody) is one originally published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The findings from a study in Quebec have shown that the number of adults with congenital heart disease has risen by 85% and the number of children living with congenital heart disease has risen by 22%. The data was from 1985 and 2000.

We can be pretty sure that the number of babies being born with congenital heart disease has not fluctuated so massively as to cause these numbers. It must be put down to better surgical techniques and diagnosis.

There are still children dying from undiagnosed heart conditions so those numbers still have room to move on the diagnosis front. Surgical techniques are also getting better so it can be realised that the number of adults living with congenital heart disease will continue to rise for a considerable amount of time to come.