Congenital anomalies in a State Specialist Hospital; A Secondary Level of Healthcare.

Background: we set out to look at the pattern of congenital anomalies at the point of birth and see if there are identified predisposing factors.
Methods: This was a Hospital based cross sectional study of babies delivered at the Labour ward of the State Specialist Hospital Akure from March to September 2012. The babies were examined for external Congenital anomalies after delivery. Information was collected on the patient as well as the parents with a structured proforma with a view to looking for associated factors.
Results: over the 6 months of this study, there were 1551 babies; 765 were males and 786 were females. Twenty two babies were delivered with external congenital birth defects. Among the babies with congenital anomalies 15 were males while 7 were females with M: F 2:1. Twenty one (95.5%) was delivered by spontaneous vaginal delivery, only one patient had Caeserian section. All with known gestational age 20 (91%) were delivered at term. Congenital talipes equinovarus and polydactyly were the 2 most frequent external congenital anomalies. Family history of congenital anomaly, fever in pregnancy and maternal obesity were associated risk factors in 7 of the patients. Six (27.3%) of the babies with deformities were delivered to mothers age ≥ 35years.
Conclusion: Polydactyly and Congenital talipes equinovarus were the 2 most common external birth defects seen in this study. Male babies were twice more affected compared to their female counterparts.