Background: Hydrocephalus is a common condition in which cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) accumulates in the brain which eventually causes ventricular dilatation. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of infantile hydrocephalus in Madinah, Saudi Arabia from 2016 to 2017.
Methodology: This was a retrospective cohort study conducted at Maternity and Children Hospital which is considered as the main pediatric hospital in Al Madinah city. All cases diagnosed with hydrocephalus during the first year of their life were included. The data required for the study was collected from the patient's files, hospital data system, and previous studies. Descriptive analysis was done, where numbers and percentages were used to present all categorical variables.
Results: Totally, 33 confirmed cases of infantile hydrocephalus were observed. The calculated prevalence was 1.1 per 1,000 live births. Of these 33 cases, 17 were boys and 16 were girls. Age ranged from 1 day to 336 days. Majority of the confirmed cases had congenital obstructive hydrocephalus (21 cases), while nine cases had communicating hydrocephalus and three babies had acquired obstructive hydrocephalus.
Conclusion: A decline in the prevalence has been validated in the present study. Studies done in Saudi Arabia exhibited lower proportion in comparison from the studies done abroad. Although more research studies are needed to validate this claim as there are certain factors that should be considered such as the duration of data collection and study settings.
Key words: Hydrocephalus, infantile, epidemiology, congenital
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