Gastroschisis at hospital of third level in Cali, Colombia, from March 2004 to February 2006.

Abstract

Introduction: Gastroschisis is a congenital malformation in the abdominal wall, whose prevalence ranges between 0.66 and 2.7 per 10,000 births. In the last years has been detected an increase of the prevalence has been detected in recent years. This is associated to an increasing proportion of teenage mothers and to new etiologic factors like exposition to specific teratogens and nutritional deficiencies.
Objectives: To determine the prevalence of newborns with gastroschisis born at Hospital Universitario del Valle (HUV) in Cali, during a two-year period and to evaluate the association between demographic factors of the parents and the occurrence of gastrosquisis.
Methods: An observational and descriptive study was made, considering as universe all newborns at Hospital Universitario del Valle in Cali, Colombia, between March 2004 and February 2006, to determine the occurrence of newborns with gastroschisis.
Results: During the time of the study, 16 children were born with gastrosquisis from a total of 14,452 births, representing a prevalence of 11.1 per 10,000 births, of 7.8 per 10,000 live newborns and of 103.5 in dead newborns. We found the mothers’ average age at 18.3. In August 2005 at Hospital Universitario del Valle there were 611 births of which 5 were born with gastroschisis, showing a prevalence of 81.8 per 10,000 and 1 per 122 newborns.
Conclusions: The prevalence of gastrosquisis at HUV of 11.1 per 10,000 births is one of the highest reported in the literature. Maternal age under 20 years and being the first pregnancy were found in most of the mothers of newborns with gastroschisis. 5 cases of gastroschisis in August 2005 at HUV suggest a cluster for this malformation.