Gastroschisis: A pandemic with increasing rates? ECLAMC experience in Chile 1982-2015 Gastrosquisis: ¿una pandemia con tasas en aumento? Experiencia del estudio colaborativo latino americano de malformaciones congénitas (ECLAMC) en Chile. Período 1982-201

© 2016 Sociedad Chilena de Pediatría Introduction Several communications have reported a significant increase in the prevalence of gastroschisis at birth in the last three decades. In many Countries it is referred to as “a pandemic strongly associated to low maternal age”. Objective To verify if there has been a significant increase in the prevalence of gastroschisis at birth in Chile, and if this rate is associated with a low maternal age. Patients and methods The study was performed using the ECLAMC data base from 26 Chilean Hospitals. Comparison between prevalence rates and maternal age categories were made using the X2 test or Fisher exact Test. The time series was studied comparing average tendencies using the Student t test and Wilcoxon-test. Results There were 721,901 newborns in the period 1982-2014, among which 107 were diagnosed with gastroschisis (1.48/10,000). Around three-quarters (75.7%) of them were born from mothers younger than 25. The mean maternal age was 21.6 year