Malformations in 10 000 consecutive births in Tunis

Malformations were assessed in 10 000 consecutively born infants, dead or alive, at the Wassila Bourgiba Maternity Hospital in Tunis. The medical and social history including the rate of consanguinity was studied in the malformed group as well as in a control group of 229 infants. Three hundred and ninety-six infants malformed; 248 had major malformations and 148 had minor ones. Thirteen per cent of the stillborn were malformed compared to 3.7% of the liveborn. The rates of most specific malformations were comparable to those in other studies but a relatively high rate of neural tube defects, 2.2/1 000, can be noted. There is a significant overrepresentation of consanguinity (65%) in parents of nonsyndromic multimalformed infants.