Abstract:
Introduction:
Birth defects in children are considered as a significant risk factor of stillbirths, perinatal deaths
and neonatal, infant and childhood morbidity and mortality.
Objectives:
The objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of neonatal complications in infants
with non-genetic or non-syndromic structural birth defects (SBD) in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Methods:
A hospital-based descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out by examining 315 liveborn
infants with SBD aged up to six months of age. Neonatal complications were examined using
the medical records of the infants. Descriptive statistics were used to present data.
Results:
The sample consisted of 179 (57%) male infants. One infant had ambiguous genitalia. Fiftysix
(17%) infants were born preterm (32-36 weeks: n=40, 71%; 28-31 weeks: n=12, 22%,
<27weeks: n=4, 7%). Low birth weight was observed in 102 (32.4%) infants.
Cardiovascular defects (n=398, 64%), musculoskeletal defects (n=56, 9%) and central nervous
system defects (n=52, 8.4%) were the commonest SBDs.
