Major birth defects at King Fahd Hofuf hospital: Prevalence, risk factors and outcome

We analyzed the medical records of all live birth infants [LB[s]] born with major birth defects [MBD[s]] at King Fahd Hofuf Hospital [KFHH] during a three-year period. Our objectives were to determine defect prevalence rate, patterns, geographic differences, associated maternal and infant risk factors, and the contribution of the defects to mortality in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU]. Out of 30,159 infants born alive during the study period, 687 [2.27%] had one or more MBD[s]. Systems most commonly affected were the cardiac [20.8%], musculoskeletal [18.7%], and central nervous [18.3%] systems. We observed higher rates/1000 LB[s] of life-threatening CNS and cardiac defects and diaphragmatic hernia than rates reported from other countries. Rate of defects/1000 LB[s] increased from 0.79% in the birth-weight group =>4000 g to 15.2% in the birth-weight category <1500 g. Fifty-six infants with MBD[s] were born to diabetic mothers; diabetes was the only identified maternal disease associated with birth defects. Diabetic mothers and those of infants with chromosomal anomalies had higher means of age and parity than the control mothers [33.5 yrs [SD 5.2], 31.4 yrs [7.5], and 8.8 [3.8], 7.39 [3.8], for age and parity of diabetic and chromosomal anomalies respectively vs. 26.8 yrs [6.4] and 5.2 [3.7] in the controls, P<0.01]. Out of the 687 infants, 254 [36.97%] died; and MBD[s] were the most common disease- specific cause of death in our NICU throughout the study period

Complement and immunoglobulins in septcemic newborn infants with and without meningitis

The aim of this study was to investigate possibility of quantitative deficiency in the complement components C3 and C4, and Igs G, M and A in newborn infants with meningitis. A total of 180 infants were enrolled into this study. They were allocated into 3 groups: [A] Infants with sepcemia, but had not developed meningitis [No.=68], [B] Infants with sepsis and meningitis [No.=42], and [C] Healthy control infants [No.=70]. Following sepsis work up and documentation of the type of infection, all infants had determination of serum concentration of C3, C4, IgG, M and A, with the radial immuno difusion technique. Statistical comparison of the clinical laboratory and immunological data was performed between 3 groups, the meningitis vs the septcemic groups, and also after categorizing the cases according to their gestational age