Abstract:

Congenital anomalies are structural or functional defects including metabolism, which can be diagnosed during intrauterine fetal life, at birth, or later in life. This study assessed the prevalence of major congenital anomalies in a tertiary health facility in Niger Delta region of Nigeria. This is a descriptive retrospective cross-sectional study. It involved data from the labor ward and neonatal birth registers of the facility on the total number of births and the babies that were delivered with major birth defects between January 2011 and December 2019. We also conducted a statistical comparison of the prevalence of congenital abnormalities in the Niger Delta with that in other regions of Nigeria. Out of the 21,738 births that was recorded, 837 maternities had babies with major congenital anomalies giving a prevalence of 38.5 cases per 1,000 births. This figure is far more than that which was obtained in other regions of Nigeria - 4.15: cases per 1,000 births in the South East (P,0.002), 15.84:1,000 in the South West (P,0.001), and 5.51:1,000 in the North East (P,0.003). The predominant anomalies were tetralogy of Fallot (10.5%), ventricular septal defect (9.4%), coarctation of aorta (9.1%), lower limb reduction (8.2%), hydrocephalus (7.6%), cleft palate (7.5%), upper limb reduction (6.5%), spinal bifida (6.2%), club foot (6.1%), microcephaly (6.0%) and hip dislocation (4.2%). Improved maternal health, preconception care, folic acid supplementation and routine fetal anomaly scan to reduce these anomalies was recommended.