Pattern of Fetal Congenital Anomalies and Its Relation with Maternal Factors

Congenital anomalies are one of the four leading causes of neonatal mortality in Bangladesh. The risk factors which are predictive of congenital anomaly in babies vary from country to country. In a developing country like Bangladesh many possible factors are present which should be identified & frequency needs to be assessed to understand the burden. The aim of this study was to determine the patterns and related maternal factors of fetal congenital anomaly. This cross-sectional type of comparative study was conducted at Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology in Mymensingh Medical College Hospital, Mymensingh, Bangladesh from September 2019 to August 2020. All the births occurring in the labor room were recorded. All newborn babies born with congenital anomalies were identified & included in this study. The rate of congenital anomalies was estimated and common types of congenital anomalies were noted. This study was conducted involving all women who had babies with congenital anomalies and the same number whose babies had no congenital anomalies. A structured questionnaire was used during data collection. Data was analyzed by Chi square test, bivariate analysis & multivariate logistic regression using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. During the study period, 11479 deliveries were conducted. Among them 87 cases with congenital anomalies were identified. Frequency of congenital anomaly was 0.8%. Central nervous system was the predominant system involved (49.4%). Regarding risk assessment, Maternal age >30 years (OR 2.96, 95% CI 1.10-7.93, p value 0.032), consanguinity (OR 7.73, 95% CI 1.79-33.39, p value 0.006), first degree relative with history of congenital anomaly (OR 35.52, 95% CI 4.31-292.86, p value 0.001) and no intake of folic acid (OR 15.99, 95% CI 5.28-48.52, p value <0.001), passive smoking (OR 6.45, 95% CI 1.66-25.09, p value 0.007) were independent risk factors for congenital anomalies.