Abstract

PACHAJOA, Harry; VILLOTA, Vania A.; CRUZ, Luz Marina  and  ARIZA, Yoseth. Prevalence of birth defects according to the level of care in two hospitals, Cali, Colombia, 2012-2013 . Biomédica [online]. 2015, vol.35, n.2, pp.227-234. ISSN 0120-4157.  https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v35i2.2295.

Introduction: Birth defects are morphologic alterations diagnosed prenatal or postnatally. Surveillance systems have been used to estimate the prevalence in high complexity care centers; however, the variation of the prevalence among different complexity care centers remains unknown. Objective: To compare the prevalence of birth defects among two different complexity care centers in Cali, Colombia. Materials and methods: A descriptive hospital-based study following the methodology of the Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations was conducted during 20 months in a medium complexity hospital and a high complexity hospital. Results: During the study period, 7,140 births were attended of which 225 had at least one birth defect. The prevalence of these was of 1.7% (IC95% 1.3-2.0) and 7.4% (IC95% 6.2-8.7) for the medium complexity hospital and the high complexity hospital, respectively. The highest frequencies for the high complexity care center were: ventricular septal defect, 10%; congenital hydronephrosis, 7%; abdominal wall defects, 6%, and hydrocephalus, 5%, while for the medium complexity were: polydactyly, 15%; preauricular skin tags, 8%; congenital talipes equino varus, 7%, and hemangioma, 6%. Conclusions: The prevalence of birth defects among different complexity care centers varies in quantity, type and severity of the anomaly diagnosed. The surveillance of birth defects is a useful tool for any level of care. It allows estimating more accurately the prevalence of the city, as well being a base for the planning and targeting of resources according to the prevalence of different congenital defects.

Keywords : anomalías congénitas [epidemiología]; polydactyly; heart defects; congenital; hydronephrosis..

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )