✦ LIBER ✦

Extremely high prevalence of neural tube defects in a 4-county area in Shanxi Province, China

✍ Scribed by Zhiwen Li; Aiguo Ren; Le Zhang; Rongwei Ye; Song Li; Junchi Zheng; Shixin Hong; Taimei Wang; Zhu Li

Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
Year: 2006
Tongue: English
Weight: 77 KB
Volume: 76
Category: Article
ISSN: 1542-0752
DOI: 10.1002/bdra.20248

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✦ Synopsis

Abstract

BACKGROUND

In the past, northern China's Shanxi Province has reported the highest incidence of neural tube defects (NTDs) in the world. However, little is known about the epidemiology of NTDs in this area in recent years.

METHODS

Data were collected from a population‐based birth defects surveillance system in 4 counties that captures information on all live births, stillbirths of at least 20 weeks' gestation, and pregnancy terminations at any gestational age resulting from prenatal diagnosis of a birth defect. We also surveyed mothers of NTD case patients to determine their use of folic acid before and during early pregnancy.

RESULTS

During 2003, 160 NTD cases were identified among 11,534 births (NTD birth prevalence = 138.7/10,000 births). The rates of anencephaly, spina bifida and encephalocele were 65.9, 58.1, and 14.7 per 10,000, respectively, and a female predominance was observed among anencephaly cases (male‐to‐female relative risk [RR], 0.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30–0.79), but not among spina bifida (RR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.55–1.45) and encephalocele (RR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.40–2.69) cases. The percentages of pregnancy termination following prenatal diagnosis of anencephaly, spina bifida, and encephalocele were 50%, 41.8%, and 35.3%, respectively. NTD birth prevalence tended to be higher among mothers aged <20 or ≥30 years (P = .06) and was markedly associated with lower levels of maternal education (P < .001). Among 143 NTD mothers, only 6 (4.2%) used folic acid supplements during the periconceptional period.

CONCLUSIONS

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