Congenital malformations in a post-mortem series

Of 8,390 children necropsies, 1,249 showed congenital malformations. Thirteen different malformations were recorded relatively often and are here designated as common. Of the necropsied children 914 had only one of these common malformations, and 140 more than one. A variety of less common anomalies was found in the remaining 195 necropsies. The 13 selected common malformations were analyzed statistically to establish whether there was significant clustering of them. Only five of the common malformations proved to be significantly associated. Both frequency and variability of complication differed considerably between groups of common malformations. There was an overall preponderance of males with the common anomalies but the different anomalies differed in respect to sex ratio.