Investigating the birth prevalence of congenital club foot in both Paktya and Kapisa provinces of Afghanistan

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background: </strong>congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV) or Clubfoot is one of the most common birth defects of the musculoskeletal system and affects 1 in every 1000 live births each year that cause mobility impairment. The purpose of this study is to investigating the birth prevalence of congenital club foot in both paktya and kapisa provinces of Afghanistan.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods: </strong>This study is descriptive and cross-sectional that is done on all live birth babies in a one-year period in the Paktya regional hospital (paktya province) and Alberoni teaching hospital (kapisa province) of Afghanistan from September 2019 to September 2020 and in this study, all ethical considerations were considered. The variables that were examined in our study included the following: type of delivery, mother age, gender and birth weight of the baby, newborn legs were photographed on the first day of birth and evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon. Finally, statistical data were analyze by using SPSS software</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> In this study 35 cases of multiple births including 33 cases of twins and 2 cases of triplets were recorded and the rate of cesarean section was 5.96% in this group and data showed 99.65% of infant with no congenital talipes equinovarus or club foot abnormalities Subsequently, 0.35% or 36 people had congenital clubfoot which it had more incidence in male and bilateral form was more common.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Based on the results of our study we found that prevalence of clubfoot is about 3.5 per 1000 live birth similar to other low-income country which it’s rate was more. Because diagnosis and treatment of clubfoot in the early stages is more possible Therefore, timely recognition, diagnosis and treatment are significant and helpful to decrease medical expenses. Our result in this study support high prevalence of clubfoot anomaly in mentioned provinces of Afghanistan because of different genetic and environmental risk factor to provide practical suggestions we need more epidemiologic study in all over the Afghanistan to find them.</p>