# Impact of congenital anomalies on infant mortality in the 14th Health Region of Paraná, from 2010 to 2019

## TL;DR

This study analyzed how birth defects affected infant deaths in northwest Paraná, Brazil, from 2010 to 2019.

## Contribution

The study highlights the importance of linking birth and death records to better understand and reduce infant mortality from congenital anomalies.

## Key findings

- Congenital heart defects and neural tube defects were the leading causes of infant deaths due to birth defects.
- Linking birth and death records revealed 55 additional deaths not initially recorded, increasing the prevalence of birth defects.
- The infant mortality rate from birth defects in the region was higher than the national average.

## Abstract

The aim of this study was to describe congenital anomaly (CA) notifications at birth, evaluating their impact on infant mortality in northwest Paraná.

This is a cross-sectional study using linked data on births with CA and deaths due to these conditions in the 14th Health Region of Paraná, Brazil (2010–2019), obtained through the linkage of data from the Live Birth Information System (Sinasc) and the Mortality Information System (SIM).

A total of 216 live births (LBs) with CAs were identified in Sinasc (57.7/10,000 LBs), of which 71.8% were isolated anomalies and 28.2% were multiple anomalies, totaling 331 reported anomalies. Limb and musculoskeletal defects were the most frequent (25.7%). After linking Sinasc and SIM, congenital heart defects (CHDs), initially ranked seventh, became the second most prevalent CA. A total of 115 infant deaths due to CA were identified, resulting in an infant mortality rate (IMR) of 30.7/10,000 LBs, with CHDs and neural tube defects (NTDs) as the leading causes. The data linkage revealed 55 deaths with CAs not recorded in Sinasc, increasing prevalence to 72.4/10,000 LBs (+25.5%).

IMR for CAs in the region exceeded the national average (28.0/10,000 LBs), highlighting the importance of linking data to strengthen epidemiological surveillance of these conditions. CHDs and NTDs were the most frequent causes of infant deaths associated with CAs, reinforcing the need to improve early detection and the recording of these cases to reduce infant mortality due to CAs across different regions of Brazil.