Prevalence and Risk of Birth Defects Observed in a Prospective Cohort Study: The Hokkaido Study on Environment and Children’s Health

Abstract

BackgroundPrevalence rates of all anomalies classified as birth defects, including those identified before the 22nd gestational week, are limited in published reports, including those from the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research (ICBDSR). In our birth cohort study, we collected the data for all birth defects after 12 weeks of gestation.MethodsSubjects in this study comprised 19,244 pregnant women who visited one of 37 associated hospitals in the Hokkaido Prefecture from 2003 through 2012, and completed follow-up. All birth defects after 12 weeks of gestation, including 55 marker anomalies associated with environmental chemical exposures, were recorded. We examined parental risk factors for birth defects and the association between birth defects and risk of growth retardation.ResultsPrevalence of all birth defects was 18.9/1,000 births. The proportion of patients with birth defects delivered between 12 and 21 weeks of gestation was approximately one-tenth of all patients with birth defects. Among those with congenital malformation of the nerve system, 39% were delivered before 22 weeks of gestation. All patients with anencephaly and encephalocele were delivered before 22 weeks of gestation. We observed different patterns of parental risk factors between birth defect cases included in ISBDSR and cases not included. Cases included in ISBDSR were associated with an increased risk of preterm birth. Cases not included in ISBDSR were associated with an increased risk of being small for gestational age at term.ConclusionsData from our study complemented the data from ICBDSR. We recommend that birth defects not included in ICBDSR also be analyzed to elucidate the etiology of birth defects.

Incidence and Risk Factors of Congenital Heart Disease in Qingdao: A Prospective Census Study

“…However, the highest incidence of neonatal CHD is ventricular septal defect 34.40% (161/468), followed by congenital tricuspid regurgitation 18.8% (88/468). The type with highest incidence in our study is consist with the previous reported by Egbe A, et al 5 However, the type with second high incidence is different, which is atrial septal defect detected by Egbe A. For this difference, the main reason maybe that isolated patent foramen ovale and patent ductus arteriosus are excluded in our study because they are normal neonatal ndings during fetal and neonatal period.…”

“…Previous studies from different area in China have reported various incidence of CHD, which ranged from 6.87 to 76.00 per 1000 children. 5,[18][19][20][21][22][23] To our best knowledge, this has been the rst time that performed a prospective census-based cohort study investigating all local pregnant and their newborns to respectively evaluate incidence and type of CHD during fetal and neonatal period, and analyze the potential risk factors, which provides new knowledge of CHD control and prevention. Our study indicates that the incidence of CHD in fetuses is twice for that in newborns.…”

“…4 In Japan, researchers described the prevalence of circulatory system malformations that was 3.6/1,000 births, from a prefecture-wide hospital-based birth cohort at the beginning of 12 weeks gestation. 5 In North America, a prevalence of 6.9 per 1,000 live births (95% CI: 6.7-7.1) was reported in the CHD cases. 2 Recently, CHD was identi ed in 1103 neonates, with an updated overall prevalence of 8.98 per 1000 in 18 hospitals in China, including the eastern and western regions.…”

Different Risk Factors for Very Low Birth Weight, Term-Small-for-Gestational-Age, or Preterm Birth in Japan

“…However, the participating hospitals and clinics were local medical institutions and distributed throughout the prefecture, accounting for approximately 40% of the institutes with delivery units in this prefecture [ 20 ]. Moreover, the distribution of participant characteristics was close to that of the overall Japanese population [ 42 , 43 ], suggesting the results are generalizable. Third, possible residual confounding factors may also exist.…”

Geospatial analysis of births with congenital disorders, Paraná, 2008-2015: ecological study

“…According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the congenital disorder (CD) comprises any malformation found in the newborn, intrauterine or after birth, whether of a structural, functional or metabolic nature (1) . Internationally, CD affect 3% of live births (LB) (2) and become the leading cause of child deaths in developed countries such as the United States and Japan (3)(4) .…”