title: Major anomalies in consecutive births in south of Beirut. A preliminary report about incidence and pattern.
abstract: A prospective study of major congenital anomalies (MCA) in the newborn is planned for 3 years. This preliminary report included 2161 consecutive newborns who were examined in one year for the presence of MCA in one center whose population is mostly of unfavourable living conditions. Major anomalies were found in 32 infants at incidence of 14.8/1000 (B). 29 infants with full description included 21 with a single and 8 with multiple MCA, 5 of whom were non syndromal and 3 of sequence type Skeletal anomalies were leading among the group followed by neural tube fusion defects (NTFD) forming 21.05% and 18.42% of total anomalies respectively. Incidence of NTFD (3.23%) and of esophageal atresia (1.38%) was higher than in many other western and middle eastern reports. No cases of mongolism were observed among the group putting its incidence below the usually reported figures. Incidence of low birth weight (LBW) was 5.7% among the studied population and 25% among the group of patients. Incidence of MCA among the group of LBW was 6.5%. Perinatal death was 2.82% among the whole group of newborns, 50% among malformed infants who formed 26.22% of perinatal death. 62.5% of cases were amerable to surgery.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Department, Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bittar
mesh_terms: D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007226:Infant Mortality; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007861:Lebanon / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014504:Urban Health