Place & person involved in delivery: Factors leading to delay in diagnosis of anorectal malformation in newborns

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency of place of delivery and person detecting the anomaly among newborn babies presenting with delayed diagnosis of anorectal malformation (ARM). Methods: This is a Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study, conducted at Department of Paediatric Surgery, National Institute of Child Health (NICH) Karachi, from February 19, 2019 to August 18, 2019. All patients with ARM who were diagnosed beyond two hours of life (Delayed diagnosis) were included in the study. Chi square test was applied for comparison of categorical variables. Results: Total 110 patients were enrolled in this study. Nineteen (17.3%) patients were delivered at home, while 91 (82.7%) were delivered at the hospital. The first person detecting the anomaly was grandmother (n=25) or a non-medical person in 58 patients (52.7%), 52 were diagnosed by a medical personal either primarily in 31 cases (28.2%) or secondarily by a neonatologist in 21 cases (19.1%). Conclusion: It is concluded that Non-medical person detected ARM mainly despite the babies being delivered mostly at the hospital, indicating the need for meticulous neonatal examination.