BACKGROUND Congenital malformations are structural, functional, and metabolic defects that develop during the organogenesis period and present at birth or later in life. There has been little research on congenital malformations in Ethiopia, knowledge on the incidence of birth defects at birth is unknown and the etiologies of the anomalies are limited. This study, therefore, aimed to assess the modifiable risks of congenital anomalies among women in Bale zone hospitals, Ethiopia. METHODS An unmatched case-control study was conducted from February 2018 to January 2019 in the Bale zone; namely Goba referral hospital, Robe, Ginnir and Dolomena hospitals. A total of 409 women were selected. Mothers who gave birth with any type of congenital malformation were assigned as cases and those who gave live births without any congenital abnormalities were assigned as controls. Controls were selected by the lottery method from the labor ward. For each case, two consecutive controls were included. Data were entered into Epi-data 3.1 and exported into Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 for analysis. Logistic regression was conducted to analyze the data. RESULTS Alarmingly, women who had been exposed to pesticides during the current pregnancy were two times more prone to give congenital malformed infants than their counterparts (AOR = 3.19; 95% CI = 1.31, 10.96). Additionally, those women who chewed khat during the periconceptional period were two times more likely to have congenital malformed infants as compared to women who did not engage in this activity (AOR = 2.40; 95% CI = 1.11, 5.19). CONCLUSIONS Urgent attention needs to be given by public health professionals and services to khat chewing and maternal exposure to pesticides during pregnancy to reduce the risk of congenital malformations.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚东南部草捆区医院中先天性畸形的可调整危险因素：一项无与伦比的病例对照研究。

背景技术先天性畸形是结构，功能和代谢缺陷，其在器官发生期间发展并在出生或生命后期出现。在埃塞俄比亚，关于先天性畸形的研究很少，关于出生时出生缺陷发生率的知识尚不清楚，并且异常的病因是有限的。因此，本研究旨在评估埃塞俄比亚Bale区医院妇女的先天性异常可改变的风险。方法于2018年2月至2019年1月在贝尔地区进行了无与伦比的病例对照研究; 即Goba转诊医院，Robe，Ginnir和Dolomena医院。共有409名妇女入选。分娩先天性畸形的母亲作为病例，分娩无先天性异常的母亲作为对照组。通过抽签方法从劳动病房中选择对照。对于每种情况，都包括两个连续的控件。数据输入Epi-data 3.1，然后导出到社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）21版进行分析。进行逻辑回归分析数据。结果令人震惊的是，在当前怀孕期间接触过农药的妇女发生先天畸形婴儿的可能性是其同龄人的两倍（AOR = 3.19； 95％CI = 1.31，10.96）。另外，那些在围孕期咀嚼卡塔叶的妇女患先天性畸形婴儿的可能性是未参加该活动的妇女的两倍（AOR = 2.40； 95％CI = 1.11，5.19）。结论公共卫生专业人员和服务人员需要紧急注意卡塔叶的咀嚼和孕妇在孕期接触农药，以减少先天性畸形的风险。