A genetic epidemiological study of malformations at birth in Egypt

Abstract

A total of 3000 consecutive neonates delivered in a maternity hospital in Giza, Egypt, were subjected to full clinical and genetic evaluation. Social data included parental consanguinity and social class. The prevalence of malformations in the 3000 hospital live births and stillbirths was 3.17%. Malformed neonates (95) were classified into 13 groups according to the system affected using World Health Organization classification of congenital malformations. The most common anomalies were: central nervous system (29.5%), musculoskeletal system (20.0%) and genetic syndromes (13.7%). Parental consanguinity was found in 31.79% of all cases and in 55.0% of malformed cases, thus illustrating the deleterious effects of consanguinity.