Abstract

Background: The Chilean Ministry of Health has reported a meaningful increase of births from teenager mothers (aged less than 20 years) in the period 1990-2008. On the contrary, there was a decrease of births from teenage mothers at The University of Chile Clinical Hospital (HCUCH). Aim: To compare the prevalence rates at birth of congenital malformations (CMF) in newborns from mothers younger than 20 with those of mothers between 20 and 34 years old. Patients and Methods: The Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations (ECLAMC) data base of the HCUCH, since 1969 was analyzed. The last ten years (2002-2011) were studied. Results: There were 15,636 births in the period studied, 153 of them were stillbirths (0.97%). There were 1174 newborns from teenage mothers, 82 of them had one or more congenital malformations (7%). We found an association between smoking and drug consumption in mothers and CMF in their newborns. Conclusions: The rate of congenital malformations among offspring of teenage mothers is lower than the rate for mothers between 20 and 34 years old.