Epidemiology of anencephaly in a suburban Nigerian agrarian community in the rain forest: An 11-year retrospective study of a single hospital experience

Abstract

Background: Anencephaly is a common but lethal form of neural tube defect which occurs as a result of failure of closure of the rostral neuropore. There is no data on this lethal congenital anomaly in our community. Objective: The aim of this review is to document the prevalence of anencephaly in our community. Methods: A retrospective review of the labour ward register over eleven-year period from 2007 to 2017 was carried out. The total number of deliveries was evaluated for congenital anomalies of the central nervous system. The case notes of the mothers who gave birth to children with anencephaly were further reviewed for their epidemiological profile, antenatal care and use of folic acid, fetal profile and placental weight. The data obtained was analyzed and using inferential statistics conclusions were derived. Results: There were 5 cases of anencephaly out of the 3, 789 deliveries over the eleven year period resulting in 1.3 per 1000 deliveries. There was a case of congenital hydrocephalus but there was no documented case of encephalocele and myelomeningocele. The Male: Female ratio was 2:3. The mothers’ age range was 18 years to 33 years and all affected mothers were not registered for the antenatal care and have no documentation of folic acid supplementation during the pregnancy. Conclusion: This retrospective review showed that the prevalence of anencephaly in our agrarian community agrees with the lower end of the incidence spectrum obtainable in the available literature. There is, therefore, need for a well-designed prospective study to corroborate these findings.

Keywords

• Anencephaly
• Neural tube defect
• Agrarian community
• Epidemiology