Introduction:

folic acid plays a crucial role in the epigenetic regulation of embryofetal development and its deficiency has been shown to be related to the appearance of different congenital defects.

Objectives:

to determine the time trend curves of five types of non-syndromic folate-sensitive birth defects and to identify risk factors associated with them.

Methods:

an observational, analytical, retrospective, population-based case-control study was conducted in Villa Clara Province between 2013 and 2018. Prevalence rates of congenital defects among live births, stillbirths and elective terminations of pregnancy were determined and the analysis of the polynomial trend line of prevalence rates for the different types of congenital defects was performed.

Results:

a decreasing or stable trend was observed for cleft lip and palate, gastroschisis and Down syndrome, while a slightly increasing trend was observed for congenital conotruncal heart defects and neural tube defects.

Conclusions:

the discrete upward trend identified in the prevalence rates of congenital congenital heart disease and neural tube defects has a multifactorial origin, in which genetic predisposition and different risk factors such as deficient consumption of folic acid in critical periods of embryonic development are intertwined.

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