Abstract

BARBOZA-ARGUELLO, María de la Paz  and  UMANA-SOLIS, Lila María. Ten year analysis of the national registry of congenital anomalies in Costa Rica. Acta méd. costarric [online]. 2008, vol.50, n.4, pp.221-229. ISSN 0001-6002.

Background and aim: Congenital malformations are the second leading cause of infant mortality in Costa Rica. We studied the prevalence of malformed and polymalformed newborns between the years of 1996 and 2005 and describe the secular trend of these congenital diseases. Methods: The population based passive registry of the Congenital Malformations Registry Center, INCIENSA and the online database of the Central American Center for Population of the University of Costa Rica were the data sources. A newborn with malformation coded with a single CIE 10 number was classified as "simple" and as "polymalformed" when he or she presented at least 2 malformations or a specific syndrome. Prevalence of these congenital diseases were analyzed in time according to birth’s condition (dead or alive), mother’s age, province of residence, and newborn’s gender. Additionally, a logistic regression model was performed using the presence or absence of malformation as dependent variable and the mother’s age, place of residence and newborn gender as independent variables. Results: Of the total of newborns during the study period (n=755 978), 1.47% (95% = 1.44 - 1.49) were malformed (11 099 newborns) and 34.8 / 10 000 infants (95% = 33.4 to 36.1) were polymalformed (2 629 newborns). Of the total malformed newborns, 40.5% presented syndromes and 59.5% had association of 2 or more malformations. Malformations related to the skeletalmuscle system and to Down’s syndrome were the most common. Different from findings in other provinces, the prevalence of polymalformations increased significatively in the Province of Limon during the second quinquennium of the study period. The prevalence of malformed and polymalformed newborns was significantly higher in males as well as in children born of mothers older than 35 years. The risk of having a polymalformed newborn baby was 2.4 times higher in women aged ≥ 35 years than in those with lower age (95% = 2.2-2.6). Conclusion: This study suggests that mother’s age and newborn’s gender confer an important risk for delivering children with malformations. More research is needed to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the increased prevalence of multiple malformations in the Province of Limon since 2001.

Keywords : polymalformed; registration; birth defects; Costa Rica.

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