Grant: Project Grant

A congenital anomaly is a birth defect. Some babies are born with a congenital anomaly that requires surgery immediately after birth. We currently do not know how these babies do later in life when they grow up. Until a few decades ago, most of these babies died. Recently, surgical and intensive care management have improved, resulting in better survival. We created a database of more than 750 congenital surgical anomaly patients recording birth and surgery details. This will allow us to describe our patient population, evaluate their short-term outcomes, and identify risk factors for poor outcomes. We have linked our surgical database to population data managed by the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy (MCHP). MCHP databases contain unique information about medical, educational, and socio-economic outcomes for all Manitobans. This linkage will help us to determine the medical, educational, and socio-economic outcomes of children with congenital surgical anomalies and compare these to outcomes from the general population in Manitoba. The results from our studies will help us understand the causes and long-term outcomes of children born with surgical birth defects. This should ultimately improve the care of babies born with congenital surgical anomalies.