Incidence of congenital malformations in 10 Chilean maternity hospitals Incidencia de las malformaciones congénitas en 10 maternidades chilenas participantes en el ECLAMC. Comparación de tres períodos (1971-1977, 1982-1988, 1989-1994)

Background: The Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations is an epidemiological surveillance system for congenital malformations that operates in 11 Latin American Countries. Aim: To report the incidence of congenital malformations in 8 Chilean maternity hospitals participating in this study, between 1989 and 1994. Material and Methods: During the study period, 133,564 newborns and 1,196 still-births from 8 Chilean maternity hospitals were examined. These results were compared with those of a similar survey performed in 1982-1988. Results: The proportion of stillbirths in the study period was 0.88%. There were 3,268 malformed newborns (2.42%) and 125 malformed stillbirths (10.45%). These proportion of malformations among newborns were lower and among stillbirths were higher than those reported for the rest of Latin American countries. When comparing the results with the previous survey, a reduction in the proportion of malformations among newborns was observed. Ho