Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Feb 10;31(5):397-405.
doi: 10.3171/2022.12.PEDS22321. Print 2023 May 1.

Risk factors of congenital hydrocephalus: a case-control study in a lower-middle-income country (Egypt)

Taher M Ali  1 , Reem Elwy  1 , Bassante Abdelrazik  2 , Mohamed A R Soliman  1   3   4 , Mohamed F Alsawy  1 , Ahmed Abdullah  1 , Eman Ahmed  1   5 , Shurouk Zaki  1 , Amany A Salem  6 , Mohamed A Katri  1 , Mostafa Elhamaky  1 , Haitham Kandel  1 , Ahmed A Marei  1 , Ahmed Al Menabbawy  1   7 , Ahmed M F Ghoul  1 , Ahmed A Hafez  1 , Sarah Abdelbar  1 , Reham Khaled Moharam  1 , Ayman Hany  8 , Ahmed Hasanin  9 , Sascha Marx  7 , Steffen Fleck  7 , Jörg Baldauf  7 , Henry W S Schroeder  7 , Ehab El Refaee  1   7 , Ahmed Zohdi  1
Affiliations

Risk factors of congenital hydrocephalus: a case-control study in a lower-middle-income country (Egypt)

Taher M Ali et al. J Neurosurg Pediatr. .

Abstract

Objective: Hydrocephalus is the most common brain disorder in children and is more common in low- and middle-income countries. Research output on hydrocephalus remains sparse and of lower quality in low- and middle-income countries compared with high-income countries. Most studies addressing hydrocephalus epidemiology are retrospective registry studies entailing their inherent limitations and biases. This study aimed to investigate child-related, parental, and socioeconomic risk factors of congenital hydrocephalus (CH) in a lower-middle-income country.

Methods: An investigator-administered questionnaire was used to query parents of patients with CH and controls who visited the authors' institution from 2017 until 2021. Patients with secondary hydrocephalus and children older than 2 years of age at diagnosis were excluded. Uni- and multivariable logistic regression was performed to identify the factors affecting CH development.

Results: Seven hundred forty-one respondents (312 cases and 429 controls) were included in this study. The authors showed that maternal diseases during pregnancy (OR 3.12, 95% CI 1.96-5.03), a lack of periconceptional folic acid intake (OR 1.92, 95% CI 1.32-2.81), being a housewife (OR 2.66, 95% CI 1.51-4.87), paternal illiteracy (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.02-2.69), parental consanguinity (OR 3.67, 95% CI 2.40-5.69), a history of other CNS conditions in the family (OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.24-7.34), conceiving a child via assisted fertilization techniques (OR 3.93, 95% CI 1.57-10.52), and the presence of other congenital anomalies (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.38-4.87) were associated with an independent higher odds of a child having CH. Conversely, maternal hypertension (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.09-0.48), older maternal age at delivery (OR 0.93, 95% CI 0.89-0.97), and having more abortions (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.67-0.95) were negatively correlated with CH.

Conclusions: Multiple parental, socioeconomic, and child-related factors were associated with higher odds for developing CH. These results can be utilized to guide parental counseling and management, and direct social education and prevention programs.

Keywords: congenital hydrocephalus; epidemiology; low- and lower-middle-income countries; maternal; paternal; risk factors; socioeconomic.

PubMed Disclaimer

LinkOut - more resources