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Updated: Nov 8, 2025
Transcutaneous Microcirculatory Imaging in Preterm Neonates
Published on: December 31, 2015
Congenital malformations in neonates admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit in a low-resource setting
Elena Cavaliere1,2, Daniele Trevisanuto1, Liviana Da Dalt1
1Department of Woman's and Child's Health, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Introduction:
Congenital malformations (CMs) are among the major causes of infant mortality in middle- and low-resource countries. This is the first study describing CMs in neonates admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of a referral hospital in Mozambique.
Methods:
We included all neonates with CMs admitted to the NICU of Beira Central Hospital from January 2015 to December 2016. CMs were classified according to the International Classification of Disease (ICD-10). All data were retrieved from medical charts.
Results:
CMs were found in 143/4767 (3%) neonates admitted to the NICU. The most frequent CMs were musculoskeletal (31%), neurological (18%), multiple congenital anomalies (12%), chromosomopathies (11%), cardiovascular (10%), and gastrointestinal (8%). Forty-three patients (30%) underwent corrective surgery. Overall mortality rate was 50%.
Conclusions:
The prevalence of CMs was 3%, with a mortality rate of 50%. Alongside implementation of antenatal screening programs, improvement on expertise and postnatal care of CMs are warranted.
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