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Background & Objective: Health evaluation and growth monitoring of the infant is a visual diagram of growth and primary health services are based on it. In the best option, these indices must be provided separately for each community. This study was done to evaluate growth indices of newborns in Gorgan- Northern Iran. Materials & Methods: In this observational descriptive study which was carried out during (Oct-Nov 2003), all healthy infants without any major abnormality born within 25-42 weeks of gestational age were evaluated in Dezyani Hospital, Gorgan growth indices (head circumference, length and height) were measured in 1011 infants. Gestational age was defined by Balard scoring and delivery type was recorded, too. After entering data into SPSS-10 software, data were analyzed using chi-square, t-test and correlation bivariate. Results: Mean gestational age (±SD) was 39.86±1.72 weeks and most of them were born by vaginal delivery. Amongst them, 3.2% were premature (less than 37 weeks), 4.4% were low birth weight and 0.69% were very low birth weight. Correlation between growth indices and gestational age was significantly positive in all cases (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study showed that growth indices are lower than other parts of Iran. Further investigations needed, especially longitudinally and cross-sectional, to determine the growth indices in this region and in other parts of country.

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Background and Objective: Congenital malformations are among important causes of morbidity and mortality in newborns. This study was done to determine the prevalence and pattern of congenital malformations in newborn. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was done on 6089 newborns in maternity center in Rafsanjan, Iran during 2007-08. The newborns were examined by pediatricians and based on clinical examination the type of obvious of either minor or major malformations were recorded. Results: The 179 cases had at least a major or minor malformations. Over all the prevalence of malformations was 2.93%. The highest prevalence of obvious malformations was seen in the musculo-skeletal (43.5%), followed by genitourinary (22.9%) and cardiovascular systems (15.08%). There was significant relation between congenital malformations, gestational age and medicine used by mothers (P<0.05). Conclusion: The highest prevalence of obvious malformations was seen in the musculo-skeletal system.