iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.
iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.



Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16575897/
Extremely high prevalence of neural tube defects in a 4-county area in Shanxi Province, China - PubMed Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2006 Apr;76(4):237-40.
doi: 10.1002/bdra.20248.

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

Zhiwen Li  1 , Aiguo Ren, Le Zhang, Rongwei Ye, Song Li, Junchi Zheng, Shixin Hong, Taimei Wang, Zhu Li
Affiliations

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

Zhiwen Li et al. Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2006 Apr.

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 > 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: The NTD birth prevalence rate in the study area is among the highest worldwide. Folic acid deficiency may be one important risk factor.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources