Purpose of investigation: To study the prevalence and the epidemiologic characteristics of major congenital anomalies (MCAs) in two different populations in Thrace-Greece.
Methods: The ethnic origin of all mothers who delivered in our department and the types of MCAs were determined. We compared the frequencies of MCAs between Christians and Muslims. The chi-square test, t-test, binary and multinomial logistic regression analysis were performed.
Results: The prevalence of MCAs was significantly higher in Muslims as compared to Christians (51/4,028 (12.78%) vs 49/5,994 (8.17%), p = 0.035). However, the frequencies of each type of MCA in the total number of deliveries between the two groups did not differ significantly. The central nervous system malformations were most frequently associated with perinatal mortality.
Conclusion: This is the first study in Greece showing that there is probably a higher prevalence of MCAs in Muslims as compared to Christians, although it can not be elucidated whether this increased risk is related to specific differences between them.