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.