Prevalence of various types of congenital malformations: a hospital based descriptive cross-sectional study

Background: World Health Organization (WHO) defines birth defect as structural or functional anomalies during intrauterine life which are identified during prenatal, at birth and sometime later in the infancy. The international statistical classification of diseases includes birth defects in chapter XVII as congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities. Methods: This was a descriptive cross sectional observational hospital-based study conducted on prevalence of various types of congenital malformations at Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, RNT Medical College, Udaipur. Study period from February 2024 to February 2025. Results: Among the 250 mothers, the majority were primigravida (G-1) at 39.6%, followed by G-2 at 27.9%, G-3 at 20.1%, G-4 at 8.5%, and multigravida beyond four pregnancies (>G-4) at 4%. 211 mothers (86.2%) had no previous history of abortion, while 39 (13.8%) reported prior abortions. Among these, 19 cases (7.6%) were induced and 20 cases (8%) were spontaneous, indicating a slightly higher prevalence of spontaneous abortions. majority of congenital anomalies were seen in mothers aged 20-30 years (58.8%), with central nervous system (CNS) defects being the most common across all age groups. Conclusions: This study highlights that congenital malformations, CNS defects were the leading anomalies, followed by cardiovascular and genito-urinary (GU) malformations. Most cases occurred among mothers aged 20-30 years, and first and second pregnancy, with a higher prevalence in rural populations.