Post-war environmental pollution as a risk factor of congenital disorders in Iraq: A study review

Abstract

Background: Several years of war with the recent terrorist conflicts have cumulatively affected Iraq’s land, air, water, and health infrastructure, and a substantial rise in the incidence of congenital defects has been reported in the period following the Gulf War in 1991, which was principally accredited to the environmental contamination by depleted uranium. Aim: The aim is to review some published works of literature that are specifically concerned with environmental pollution after the war in Iraq as a possible risk factor for developmental disorders. Patients and Methods: In addition to the published articles, this review includes a direct descriptive data of congenital anomalies, which was obtained from Al-Khansaa, Al-Salaam, Al-Batool Teaching Hospitals of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and General Mosul Hospital in Mosul city over a period of 12 months, starting from October 2017 to October 2018. Results: All of the research related to this topic were discussed, and most of them revealed that a higher incidence of congenital disorders was detected among people exposed directly or indirectly to post-war environmental pollution by depleted uranium (DU) and other chemical constituents. From the analysis of the scientific publications, we observed that Basrah, Baghdad, Falluja, Mosul and Al-Anbar are predominantly affected by war contamination. The study revealed that there were 317 cases of birth defects out of the 44,372 newborns delivered over a period of one year after war in Mosul; thus, the overall percentage of congenital disorders was 0.71%, and defects of the nervous system were the most prominent, among which anencephaly was the predominant condition. The highest percentage of anomalies was detected in the maternal age of 21–26 and more in female newborns. Conclusion: We must decrease parental exposure to the possible teratogens through prenatal counseling and public education about the penalties of environmental pollution in order to arrange practical guidelines for public health and to alleviate the outcome of pregnancy. Keywords: pollution, congenital, post-war,environmental, review