[Etiopathogenesis and type of congenital malformations observed in Kinshasa (Zaïre)]

The authors report on 115 malformed newborns, who are compared with 120 normal newborns from October 1985 up to September 1986 at the University Clinics of Kinshasa, Zaïre. There were 4,422 deliveries with 4,465 newborns, of whom 173 died during the perinatal period. The main results are: 1) the incidence of congenital defects is 2.5% births: a rate which is within the limits described by other authors: 2) polydactyly is the most frequent malformation; 3) two rare malformations were diagnosed: (1) a case of Arnold Chiari syndrome associated with polydactyly and (2) a case of temporal meningo-encephalocele; (4) factors for high risks of malformation are: advanced maternal age older than 35 years, consanguinity, a family history of birth defect and of stillbirths; 5) the diagnosis of even major congenital malformations is made macroscopically at birth in 95% because of lack of adequate instruments for antenatal diagnosis and the refusal of autopsy by the population (97%). For religious or mystical reasons, it is difficult to obtain a family's consent to perform autopsy in Kinshasa: people are convinced that life continues after death. So that a dead person needs the corporal integrity of his being.