INCIDENCE, IMPORTANCE AND CO-OCCURRENCE OF CONGENITAL ANOMALIES IN INFANTS BORN PRETERM

Congenital anomalies (CA) are relatively frequent and have been reported to be more frequent in infants born preterm ( Aims The first aim of this study is to assess the incidence of CA according to weeks of gestation. The second aim is to evaluate the correlation between the number and the severity of CA and gestational age. Methods This is a hospital-based study, which utilized neonatal data between 2001 and 2006 from a hospital in Montreal, Canada. Results Over this time period, 19 105 live births were recorded and the incidence of CA was 7.9%. A regression demonstrates an inverse relationship between CA (without CA vs with one or more CA) and gestational age (β = −0.109; F(1, 19103) = 228.48, p Conclusions Incidence, importance (major vs minor) and co-occurrence of congenital anomalies are inversely correlated with the gestational age including within the term range.