Malformaciones congénitas en Chile y Latino América: Una visión epidemiológica del ECLAMC del período 1995-2008 / Congenital malformations in Latin America in the period 1995-2008

ABSTRACT

Background: The Latin American Study of Congenital Malformations (ECLAMC) hasperformed an epidemiológica! surveillance of congenital malformations since 1967. This allows to detectany unexpected change in the incidence of malformations, possibly caused by a new environmental teratogenic agent. Aim: To report a summary ofthe results thusfar obtained in this study. Material ana Methods: The ECLAMC datábase was analyzed and all Uve births and stillbirths ofmore than 500 grams in the period 1995-2008, were analyzed. Results: There were 2,409,407 births in the nine participant countries. Ofthese 31,516 (1.3 percent) were stillbirths. The global rate of congenital malformations in this sample was 2.7 percent. In the studied period, there was a significant reduction in the rates of anencephaly and spina bifida in Chile and Argentina. In the rest ofthe countries, the global rates of malformations increased. Venezuela had the higher rate of teenage pregnancies (25 percent), followed by Colombia (23 percent). Chile had the higherpercentage ofwomen aged 35years or moregiving birth (14 percent), followed by Uruguay (13 percent). However, Chile had the higher rate of Down syndrome and Uruguay, the lowest (24.7 and 13.6per 10000). Conclusions: There is a tendency towards an increase in the rates of congenital malformations in this sample, with significant differences among countries.