Preventing neural tube defects in Europe: population based study
Open Access
- 10 March 2005
- Vol. 330 (7491) , 574-575
- https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.330.7491.574
Abstract
Eurocat is a network of population based congenital anomaly registries in Europe (http://www.eurocat.ulster.ac.uk/). A total of 9 273 212 births were surveyed by 31 registries in 16 countries 1980-2001,3 including 8913 babies or fetuses with neural tube defects (anencephaly, spina bifida, or encephalocele): 3298 live births, 844 stillbirths, and 4771 terminations of pregnancy after prenatal diagnosis. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, yearly prevalence of neural tube defects declined, predating any periconceptional folic acid supplementation policy initiatives, from 45 per 10 000 births in 1980 to 10 to 15 per 10 000 in the 1990s (%figure). In contrast, in the rest of Europe the prevalence during the 1980s and thereafter was close to 10 per 10 000 births (%figure).Keywords
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