A study to detect birth defects scenario in a tertiary care hospital New Delhi

Abstract

Background: Birth defects are a group of structural or functional disorders which are present at birth and are of prenatal origin can be caused by genetic defects, environmental teratogens or multifactorial inheritance. A total of 290 newborns were diagnosed with birth defects in an observational cross-sectional study conducted in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in collaboration with the Department of Pediatrics, at VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi. Before starting the study, permission was taken from the ethical committee of the institution. All women who delivered a live birth were tracked to study the spectrum of birth defect and its association with maternal risk factors. A total of 290 newborns were diagnosed with birth defects. Male female ratio was 1.30:1. Out of a total of 25,565 deliveries, 24,905 were live births and 660 were stillbirths. Prevalence of birth defects among stillbirths was higher, as compared to live births i.e. 4.54% and 1.04% respectively; the difference was statistically significant, p=