title: [Gastroschisis: A pandemic with increasing rates? ECLAMC experience in Chile 1982-2015].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Several communications have reported a significant increase in the prevalence of gastroschisis at birth in the last three decades. In many Countries it is referred to as "a pandemic strongly associated to low maternal age".
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To verify if there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of gastroschisis at birth in Chile, and if this rate is associated with a low maternal age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed using the ECLAMC data base from 26 Chilean Hospitals. Comparison between prevalence rates and maternal age categories were made using the X2test or Fisher exact Test. The time series was studied comparing average tendencies using the Student t test and Wilcoxon-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 721,901 newborns in the period 1982-2014, among which 107 were diagnosed with gastroschisis (1.48/10,000). Around three-quarters (75.7%) of them were born from mothers younger than 25. The mean maternal age was 21.6 years in mothers of children with gastroschisis, while the mean maternal age of all mothers from Chile was almost 28 years old. The gastroschisis prevalence at birth rate was constant at around 1/10,000 until 1994. From 1995 this rate has a significant increasing tendency of 0.1591 by year (P=.00714). This increase is about a 300% on average for the 1995-2014 period, compared with the previous one (P<.00001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been a significant increase in the gastroschisis prevalence at birth in Chile from 1995, and this anomaly is associated with a low maternal age.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Neonatología, Hospital Clínico Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Electronic address: jnazer@hcuch.cl.
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nazer Herrera
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Karachon Essedin
authors.affiliation: Programa de Genética Humana, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Lucía
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cifuentes Ovalle
authors.affiliation: Programa de Genética Humana, Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Assar Cuevas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002677:Chile / Q000453:epidemiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D020139:Gastroschisis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008423:Maternal Age; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent mothers; Congenital malformations; Edad materna; Gastroschisis; Gastrosquisis; Malformaciones congénitas