CONGENITAL ANOMALIES PREVALENCE IN KUMAUN REGION OF UTTARAKHAND, INDIA: A MULTICENTRE STUDY

Abstract

Congenital anomalies occur as a result of abnormalities in the newborn baby’s structure, function or body metabolism. We conducted a descriptive study to know the incidences of congenital anomalies and its prevalence among children. This is a multicentre cross sectional study including Government and Private Hospitals of Haldwani city of Uttarakhand, India. The total numbers of hospital admissions were 5600 including 424 cases of congenital anomalies. This study was conducted for a period of five months duration. This survey was performed with the help of questionnaire. 424 cases of congenital anomalies showing the average incidence of 7.57%. The prevalence pattern of congenital anomalies shows cases of defects at birth 251, which includes congenital heart disease (36%), cleft lip and palate (14%), neural tube defects (12 %), clubfoot (10%), congenital deafness (8%) and others (16%). The cases of developmental delay and disability were 149 included vision impairment (45%), hearing impairment (17%), neuromotor impairment (23%), learning disorder (4%), behavior disorder (4%), language delay (3%), cognitive delay (3%) and motor delay (1%). 24 cases of intrauterine foetal death were observed. In order to reduce the chances of infant mortality and improving the health of the children, it is necessary for us to expand our study of the environment role in etiology of birth defects and better understanding of risk factors for birth defects.