Research Article
Marcelo Kemel Zago
Abstract
Cardiac and respiratory systems malformations are some of the most common and severe congenital defects and they often co-exist with anomalies of neck and chest wall – the multiple malformations phenotypes. In this study, a survey was performed on the incidence of such defects in the database of the Estudio Colaborativo Latino Americano de Malformaciones Congenitas, in live-born infants of the Complexo Hospitalar da Irmandade Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Porto Alegre (Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil), from January 2004 to December 2006. From a total of 259 newborns found in this period containing malformations, 30 had anomalies in the thoracic region (here named “thoracic malformations group”) of multiple and simultaneously occurring subtypes: cardiac, pulmonary, neck and chest wall. Among the analyzed variables, it was observed that live-born infants of the thoracic malformations group have reduced birth weight, are more frequently girls, have shorter gestational age at birth, have older fathers and have mothers that smoke less but that have more chronic diseases during pregnancy, in relation to the control group. The conclusion of the present work is that paternal-maternal-dependent variables seem to significantly contribute as causing agents of thoracic defects in general.\r\n