BACKGROUND: Congenital anomalies are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality among infants. The involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) occurs in 21% of cases. OBJECTIVE: To identify incidence of CNS malformations and associated factors in newborns at a Terciary Hospital of Porto Alegre. METHOD: Case-control study conducted between 2000 and 2005 based on the Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations database. RESULTS: Among 26,588 births registered in this period, 3.67% presented with malformations (IC=95%; 3.44-3.9), being 0.36% of the CNS (IC=95%,(0.29-0.43)). The most common CNS malformation was meningomielocele (10.4%). Young maternal age (p=0.005); low birth weight (p=0.015); large cephalic perimeter (p=0.003); post term birth (p=0.000) and low APGAR indexes at the 1st and 5th minutes were associated with CNS malformations. CONCLUSION: We found an incidence of CNS malformations similar as compared to literature.
neurological malformations; neural tube defects; risk factors; congenital malformations
