Topical issues of congenital malformations in children
In this article, topical questions on congenital malformations of newborn children in different countries of the world are considered. The attitude of the scientists of the world to this problem. Comparative analysis and solutions. Congenital malformations (CMs) are an important public health issue in terms of impact on the quality of life of affected children, adults and their families, and are a major cause of early spontaneous abortions, termination of pregnancy, infant morbidity, mortality and disability in all industrialized countries. Even in the less developed countries, CMs are recognized as one of the major problems in the maternal-child health field. Congenital malformations are leading in the structure of causes of perinatal mortality. The total group of adverse pregnancy outcomes is the single major cause of infant morbidity, mortality and disability in all countries. Therefore even an apparently small decrease (e.g.: 20-30%) of the frequency of major adverse pregnancy outcomes through a primary prevention intervention is an extremely important public health issue, since we can secure the health of a great number of children who would otherwise affected. Prevention in this field is therefore highly important. Preterm birth, defined as delivery prior to 37 completed weeks, is a major challenge for maternal and perinatal care worldwide and a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality.The frequency and severity of congenital malformations (CMF) do not tend to decline in modern society. CMF for etiologic factors are referred to the pathologies of a multifactorial nature. Among the many causative factors of CMF there is a hereditary predisposition. The prevalence of chronic diseases, such as immune, neurobehavioral, and metabolic disorders has increased in recent decades. According to the concept of Developmental Origin of Health and Disease (DOHaD), developmental factors associated with environmental exposures and maternal lifestyle choices may partly explain the observed increase. Given the high percentage of adverse outcomes with CMF, as well as the fact that long and complex treatment, necessary medical and pedagogical correction of defects and social assistance for children with disabilities suffering from congenital and hereditary diseases require significant economic costs, it is clear that the main efforts should be aimed at preventing the birth of children with CMF. Studies of many domestic and foreign authors are devoted to the disclosure of the epidemiological aspect of the CMF problem. Register-based epidemiology is a prime tool to investigate the effects of prenatal exposures over the whole life course.