DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2015.v03i03.070

Pages: 1380-1384

The aim was to study the antenatal and perinatal profile of infants and paediatric patients with birth defects (BDs).The present study was a single center retrospective study. Infants and paediatric patients with birth defects admitted in Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), Paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and Paediatric wards from January 2014 to December 2014 were enrolled. The study was performed over a period of 12 months from January 2014 to December 2014. During the study period, total paediatric admissions were 5982 including paediatric intensive care and neonatal intensive care units. Of these 276(4.61%) patients had birth defects. A total of 457 birth defects were identified in these 276 patients. The mean maternal age at conception in the present study was 27.2 years (age range of 16 to 38 years and standard deviation of 4.2 years. Primigravida mothers constituted 33.69% of cases followed by 2nd (26.81%) and 3rd (22.83%) gravida. BDs were detected antenatally in only 38.45% of cases, whereas ultrasound was not done in one fourth of cases. Mothers of 35.87% (n=276) of cases had history of abortions and mothers of 7.25% (n=276) of cases had history of multiple abortions. Forty three cases (15.57%, n=276) had siblings with BD. The rate of dissimilar BD in the siblings (13.04%, n=276) is more compared to similar BD (2.53%, n=276). 151 cases (54.71%) had normal birth weight and 115 cases (41.67%) had low birth weight. 114 cases (41.3%) had multiple birth defects and 162 cases (58.7%) had isolated birth defects. Cases of isolated BDs (n=162) most commonly involved musculoskeletal system (41.36%) followed by cardiovascular system (24.08%) and central nervous system (22.22%). Birth defects were more common in primigravida mothers with the age group of 25 – 30 years. Not all the birth defects were detected antenatally.