Research: Prevalence of neural tube defects Khartoum, Sudan August 2014-July 2015

Neural tube defects (NTDs) are birth defects that results from failure of the neural tube to develop properly during early pregnancy.

We studied the prevalence of neural tube defects in newborns admitted to the NICU in Soba University and Omdurman Maternity hospitals, during the period 1st August 2014 to 31st July 2015. A cross-sectional hospital based study, involved all newborns with any type of neural tube defect admitted to the NICU in the study area during the study period. Data was collected using a questionnaire reviewing the medical, social history and clinical examination.

Out of the 36,785 delivered newborns during the study period, the prevalence of NTDs was 2.8:1000. Females were 56 (54.4%) predominated males 47 (45.6%). History of neural tube defects was found in 11 (10.7%) of the affected newborns siblings. Sixty-eight (66%) of the studied mothers received folic acid during pregnancy with the current child, of those who received folic acid 66 (97.1%) started folic acid after conception, 36 (54.5%) in the first trimester and 39 (57.4%) had no regular intake of the folic acid. The types of NTDs include myelomeningocele 49 (47.6%), anencephaly 18 (17.5%), encephalocele 14 (13.6%), myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus 11 (10.7%) and meningocele 8 (7.8%).

The prevalence of neural tube defects is 2.8:1000. Myelomeningocele is the commonest encountered NTD. The use of preconception folic acid needs to be advocated.