Profile of gross congenital malformations among live newborns and its associated risk factors from a tertiary care rural teaching institute

Background: Congenital malformations are defects in morphogenesis during early fetal life. The objective was to study the profile of gross congenital malformations among live newborns and its associated risk factors from a tertiary care rural teaching hospital of north India. Methods: It is a cross- sectional, descriptive. All the babies born in the hospital (live births) during January 2014 to December 2014 formed the baseline population and those with gross congenital malformations were included in the study. Antenatal records were assessed and mothers were interviewed for socio-demographic variables. Results: There were 6143 live births out of which 109 had gross congenital malformations giving an incidence of 1.7%. Central nervous system was most commonly affected (48%) followed by musculoskeletal (28%) and gastrointestinal system (13%). Incidence of congenital malformations was more among multi-parous females, preterm and low birth weight babies. Conclusions: A relative increase in the incidence of congenital malformations once again implies the importance of public health education and regular antenatal screening. We also, strongly recommend mandatory screening of all newborns by pediatrician after birth for timely detection and best possible treatment of these congenital malformations