Prevalence of birth defects and risk-factor analysis from a population-based survey in Inner Mongolia, China

Abstract

BackgroundBirth Defects are a series of diseases that seriously affect children's health. Birth defects are generally caused by several interrelated factors. The aims of the article is to estimate the prevalence rate and types of birth defects in Inner Mongolia, China, to compare socio-demographic characteristics among the children with birth defects and to analyze the association between risk factors and birth defects.MethodsData used in this study were obtained through baseline survey of Inner Mongolia Birth Defects Program, a population-based survey conducted from 2005 to 2008. The survey used cluster sampling method in all 12 administrative districts of Inner Mongolia. Sampling size is calculated according to local population size at a certain percentage. All live births, stillbirths and abortions born from October 2005 to September 2008, whose families lived in Inner Mongolia at least one year, were included. The cases of birth defects were diagnosed by the clinical doctors according to their experiences with further laboratory tests if needed. The inclusion criteria of the cases that had already dead were decided according to death records available at local cites. We calculated prevalence rate and 95% confidence intervals of different groups. Outcome variable was the occurrence of birth defects and associations between risk factors and birth defects were analyzed by using Poisson regression analysis.Results976 children with birth defects were diagnosed. The prevalence rate of birth defects was 156.1 per 10000 births (95%CI: 146.3-165.8). The prevalence rate of neural tube defect (20.1 per 10000 births) including anencephaly(6.9 per 10000), spina bifida (10.6 per 10000), and encephalocele (2.7 per 10000) was the highest, followed by congenital heart disease (17.1 per 10000). The relative risk (RR) for maternal age less than 25 was 2.22 (95%CI: 2.05, 2.41). The RR of the ethnic Mongols was lower than Han Chinese (RR: 0.84; 95%CI: 0.80-0.89). The RR of the third and second pregnancy was significantly higher than the first pregnancy while a slight difference between the second and the first pregnancy was also found. Alcohol drinking of mothers, familial inheritance and living area were also found to be related to the occurrence of the birth defects.ConclusionsRelatively higher birth defect rates were found in Inner Mongolia. This study found that maternal age less than 25, alcohol drinking, familiar inheritance, lower education level of mothers, times of pregnancies and living in rural areas may increase the risk of birth defects. Ethnic Mongols were less likely to have birth defects than Han Chinese.

Congenital Malformations in the Newborn Population: A Population Study and Analysis of the Effect of Sex and Prematurity

“…1,9,10,17,18 However, there are certain novel aspects to our study that makes it different from previous publications. First, we studied the prevalence of CMs among live births in the United States, excluding stillbirths and abortions.…”

“…As a result, our study population is more representative of the general newborn population in the country in comparison to other studies that were based on specific locations in a country 1,10 or on international cohorts. 9 Considering the heterogeneity of the United States population, it is imperative to have estimates that are based on a representative sample population. Third, we had a large sample size of more than 1.2 million live births, which makes this the largest study of CM prevalence in the United States.…”

“…Most population-based studies of CM prevalence have included live births, stillbirths, and abortions in their cohort. 1,9,10 With CM the leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity, it is important to estimate its burden among live births because health planning and health resource allocation is based on the disease burden on live births. From a public health perspective, an estimate of CM prevalence among live births, instead of all births, is a more applicable form of epidemiologic data.…”

Prevalence and risk factors of congenital heart defects among live births: a population-based cross-sectional survey in Shaanxi province, Northwestern China

“…In four areas surrounding Shanghai, a previous surveillance program identified 75 cases of CHD among the 4006 fetuses and neonates who were scanned prenatally or neonatally, corresponding to an overall observed prevalence of 187.2 (95% CI: 14.8, 23.5) per 10000 births [7]. A population-based survey in Inner Mongolia reported a CHD prevalence of around 17.1 per 10000 births in 2008 [16]. A total of 1005052 births reported to the Birth Defects Monitoring Network of Guangdong province indicated an overall CHD prevalence of 52.4 per 10000 births (95% CI: 51.0, 53.8) [17].…”

Prenatal Diagnosis of Open Spina Bifida in Emilia-Romagna

“…Among these, the myelomeningocele (protrusion of the nervous tissue and its covering through a defect in the vertebrae and skin) represents by far the most common type, accounting for about 90% of spina bifida cases [1,2]. Its incidence is reported to range from 2 to 20 per 10,000 births according to different geographic areas, being higher in the United Kingdom (from 5.9 to 13.1 per 10,000 births) and Asia (10.6 per 10,000 births) and lower in the United States (from 3.1 per 10,000 births) and in the other European countries (from 2.0 to 10.5 per 10,000 births) [3,4,5,6,7]. The causes of spina bifida are multifactorial, including genetic predisposition, environmental factors and maternal conditions [8].…”