Incidence of Birth Defects and Success Rate of Prenatal Diagnosis in the Czech Republic in 2000

Overview

Objective:
Presentation of results analyzing the incidence of birth defects in the Czech Republic in 2000 and comparison with the period 1991- 1999.Type of study: Retrospective demographic and epidemiological study.Method: Processing of the incidence of selected types of birth defects assessed before birth and in boru children under one year in the Czech Republic in 2000. Data of the previous period from 1991-1999 were updated. Analysis of demographic data on birth defects as a whole and selected types of birth defects. In the work data from the nationwide records of birth defects were used which are kept in the Institute of Health Information and 5tatistics in the Czech Republic and data on the prenatal diagnoees from different departments of medical genetics.Results: In 2000 a total of 90 910 children were boru in the Czech Republic. The absolute number of children boru with a birth defect was in 2000 in the CR 2 870, i.e. 315.7 per 10 000liveborn infants. There was thus a further increase of the total number of diagnosed cases of birth defects in absolute numbers as well as when calculated per 10 000 liveborn infants. On analysis by different diagnoses of birth defects, as compared with the previous period, a dechne of some defects was observed - in particular clefts of the central nervous system (anencephaly, spina bifida, and encephalocele), clefts of the abdominal wall (omphalocele and gastroschisis), diaphragmatic hernia and Down's syndrome. In other instances there is on the other hand, as compared with the previous period, a slight increase of recorded cases. This applies in particular to some types of heart disease, birth renal defects, stenosis and atresia of the oesophagus, anorectal malformations and some less important anomalies (polydactyly, syndactyly).Conclusion: The paper presents up-to-date results of the nationwide recording of birth defects diagnosed prenatally and postnatally in the Czech Republic in 2000. For comparison data from the Czech Republicassembled in previous years esere used. These data are an integral part of international reviews and analyses of birth defects.

Key words:
birth defect, population teratology, incidence, Czech Republic, prenatal diagnosis, secondary prevention,successfulness