The NBDPN is committed to the primary prevention of birth defects and improvement of outcomes for children and families living with birth defects through the use of birth defects surveillance data for research, program planning, and program evaluation. Previous NBDPN reports were published in Teratology in 1997 and yearly from 2000 through 2002, and in BDRA from 2003 through 2006. In the November 2007 issue of BDRA, we present 11 articles reporting epidemiological and methodological studies of birth defects. The December 2007 issue provides a national perspective on statelevel prevalences of specific birth defects in the United States. Collectively, these two issues highlight the progress made in applying birth defects surveillance data to our understanding of the epidemiology and public health significance of birth defects in the United States.
The articles in the November 2007 issue were selected from those submitted in response to a call for manuscripts distributed to all state birth defect surveillance programs, NBDPN members, the birth defects surveillance listserv, and posted on the NBDPN website (http:// www.nbdpn.org). The 11 articles included here underwent both editorial-board and formal blinded peer review. To avoid any possible conflict of interest, full editorial responsibility was assigned to the coeditor for those manuscripts coauthored by the editor, and vice versa. The review process was facilitated by the use of the online peer-review management system provided by Wiley for the editors of BDRA.
The first two articles in this issue are focused on NTDs. Besser et al. use more than 35 years of data to examine long-term trends in the prevalence of spina bifida and anencephaly. Grosse and Collins review NTD recurrence prevention. The next two articles are on the topic of congenital heart defects. Riehle et al. describe how the application of nomenclature can improve the specificity of cardiac diagnoses. Nembhard et al. look at the risk of preterm birth in infants born with congenital heart defects. Two articles examine population-based aspects of Down syndrome. Besser et al. describe an increase in the prevalence of Down syndrome in children and adolescents in Metropolitan Atlanta. Shin et al. look at the case fatality and causes of infant death among babies with Down syndrome. The next article by Caton et al. describes the epidemiology of bladder and cloacal exstrophies. This is followed by a article describing a pilot test for prenatal surveillance of birth defects in Texas by Ethen et al. Finally, there are three articles describing methods and applications to enhance birth defects epidemiology and public health. These include an article by Copeland and Kirby describing the use of registry data to evaluate mortality associated with birth defects, an article by Langlois and Scheuerle examining which birth defects are more prone to variable prevalences, and an article by Cassell et al. describing the exchange of data between states. Collectively, the methods and findings from these articles should improve both the science and practice of birth defects surveillance and prevention in the United States and around the globe.
This report could not have been completed without the generous commitment of time and energy on the part of many dedicated individuals. These include the following peer reviewers of manuscripts: