A silent epidemic of major congenital malformations in Tigray, northern Ethiopia: hospital-based study

Congenital malformations are defects of the morphogenesis of organs or body during the pregnancy period and are identifiable at pre- or postnatal. They are identified as the major cause of child mortality worldwide. There is a need to understand the prevalence of congenital malformations in Tigray and Ethiopia in general as surveillance data are lacking. Hence, this study was designed to investigate the burden of major congenital malformations in the Tigray Region, Northern Ethiopia. Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted to identify neonates with major congenital anomalies in the labor ward admitted at six major public hospitals of Tigray region, Ethiopia between January 2018 and 2019. All newborns/neonates delivered in all study hospitals during the study period were considered as the study population. The prevalence of major congenital anomalies and the distribution of each type of major congenital anomalies within total birth were calculated. Data on maternal, and newborn demographic characteristics was collected. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS and p value p p p p p