In a study conducted by Bitar et al. (1999) to assess the epidemiology of congenital heart disease at the American University of Beirut-Medical Center, a relatively low prevalence of hypoplastic left heart syndrome was observed in 2 out of 3 study groups. The study groups comprised patients seen at the outpatient cardiac clinic between 1980 and 1995 and infants born with CHD at the hospital during the year 1995.

Chéhab et al. (2005) studied 56 paediatric patients under the age of 7 who were admitted for cardiogenic shock (CS) suspicion in ten different Lebanese hospitals during a six-year period (1st January 1999 and 31 December 2004). Hypoplastic left heart syndrome was observed to be one of the main etiologies in these patients.

Yunis et al. (2006) studied a group of 173 newborns to understand the effects of consanguinity on prevalence of congenital heart defects. First-cousin marriages were found to be a significant risk factor for hypoplastic left heart.

Manzar et al. (2005) conducted a study to compare the head circumference of infants with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and transposition of great arteries (TGA). Head circumference of infants with HLHS was reported to be lower than the control group (term appropriate infants) and those with TGA. Significantly higher mortality rate and lower mean weight were also observed in HLHS patients as compared to the TGA group.

Sawardekar (2005) conducted a study to establish the prevalence of major congenital malformations in children born during a 10-year period in Nizwa Hospital. Of the 21,988 total births in the hospital, four children were born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Hosani and Czeizel (2000) calculated the incidence rate of hypoplastic left heart syndrome to be lower than 0.21 per 1000 births in the UAE National Congenital Abnormality Registry (NCAR) pilot dataset.

Hamdan et al. 2015 reported that out of 1950 pregnant women undergoing fetal echocardiography, 152 fetuses were diagnosed with congenital heart disease. 139 of these were of Arab ethnic background and 60-70% of the Arabs were of Emirati origin. Parental consanguinity was noted in 69% of the Arab cases (96/139). Findings in the cohort included left heart obstruction (n=30), conotruncal malformations (n=26), septal defects (n=22), cardiomyopathy (n=19), right heart obstruction (n=8), arrhythmia (n=8), heterodoxy syndromes (n=3), cardiac tumors (n=3) and anomalous venous connection (n=1).