showing 9 related works from this author
Prevalence of microcephaly in Europe: population based study.
2016
Objectives: Microcephaly is a congenital anomaly where the baby’s head is smaller than expected when compared with babies of the same sex, age and ethnicity. Many of these babies will have underdeveloped brains. This study aimed to provide contemporary estimates of the prevalence of microcephaly in Europe, determine if the diagnosis of microcephaly is consistent across Europe and to evaluate whether changes in prevalence would be detected using the current European surveillance performed by EUROCAT (the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies). Design: A questionnaire and a population-based, observational study Setting: 24 EUROCAT registries covering 570,000 births annually in 15 coun…
Congenital anomalies associated with trisomy 18 or trisomy 13: A registry-based study in 16 european countries, 2000-2011
2015
The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of trisomies 18 and 13 in Europe and the prevalence of associated anomalies. Twenty-five population-based registries in 16 European countries provided data from 2000-2011. Cases included live births, fetal deaths (20+ weeks' gestation), and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly (TOPFAs). The prevalence of associated anomalies was reported in live births. The prevalence of trisomy 18 and trisomy 13 were 4.8 (95%CI: 4.7-5.0) and 1.9 (95%CI: 1.8-2.0) per 10,000 total births. Seventy three percent of cases with trisomy 18 or trisomy 13 resulted in a TOPFA. Amongst 468 live born babies with trisomy 18, 80% (76-83%) had a cardiac anomaly, …
Epidemiology of multiple congenital anomalies in Europe : A EUROCAT population-based registry study
2014
BACKGROUND: This study describes the prevalence, associated anomalies, and demographic characteristics of cases of multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) in 19 population-based European registries (EUROCAT) covering 959,446 births in 2004 and 2010.METHODS: EUROCAT implemented a computer algorithm for classification of congenital anomaly cases followed by manual review of potential MCA cases by geneticists. MCA cases are defined as cases with two or more major anomalies of different organ systems, excluding sequences, chromosomal and monogenic syndromes.RESULTS: The combination of an epidemiological and clinical approach for classification of cases has improved the quality and accuracy of the M…
Major Congenital Anomalies in Babies Born With Down Syndrome
2014
Previous studies have shown that over 40% of babies with Down syndrome have a major cardiac anomaly and are more likely to have other major congenital anomalies. Since 2000, many countries in Europe have introduced national antenatal screening programs for Down syndrome. This study aimed to determine if the introduction of these screening programs and the subsequent termination of prenatally detected pregnancies were associated with any decline in the prevalence of additional anomalies in babies born with Down syndrome. The study sample consisted of 7,044 live births and fetal deaths with Down syndrome registered in 28 European population-based congenital anomaly registries covering seven m…
The Association of H1N1 Pandemic Influenza with Congenital Anomaly Prevalence in Europe
2015
BACKGROUND: In the context of the European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies (EUROCAT) surveillance response to the 2009 influenza pandemic, we sought to establish whether there was a detectable increase of congenital anomaly prevalence among pregnancies exposed to influenza seasons in general, and whether any increase was greater during the 2009 pandemic than during other seasons.METHODS: We performed an ecologic time series analysis based on 26,967 pregnancies with nonchromosomal congenital anomaly conceived from January 2007 to March 2011, reported by 15 EUROCAT registries. Analysis was performed for EUROCAT-defined anomaly subgroups, divided by whether there was a prior hypothesis of…
Trends in congenital anomalies in Europe from 1980 to 2012
2018
Background Surveillance of congenital anomalies is important to identify potential teratogens. Methods This study analysed the prevalence of 61 congenital anomaly subgroups (excluding chromosomal) in 25 population-based EUROCAT registries (1980–2012). Live births, fetal deaths and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly were analysed with multilevel random-effects Poisson regression models. Results Seventeen anomaly subgroups had statistically significant trends from 2003±2012; 12 increasing and 5 decreasing. Conclusions The annual increasing prevalence of severe congenital heart defects, single ventricle, atrioventricular septal defects and tetralogy of Fallot of 1.4% (95% CI: 0.7% to …
Twenty-year trends in the prevalence of Down syndrome and other trisomies in Europe : impact of maternal age and prenatal screening
2013
This study examines trends and geographical differences in total and live birth prevalence of trisomies 21, 18 and 13 with regard to increasing maternal age and prenatal diagnosis in Europe. Twenty-one population-based EUROCAT registries covering 6.1 million births between 1990 and 2009 participated. Trisomy cases included live births, fetal deaths from 20 weeks gestational age and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. We present correction to 20 weeks gestational age (ie, correcting early terminations for the probability of fetal survival to 20 weeks) to allow for artefactual screening-related differences in total prevalence. Poisson regression was used. The proportion of births in …
Lamotrigine use in pregnancy and risk of orofacial cleft and other congenital anomalies
2016
Objective: To test previous signals of a risk of orofacial cleft (OC) and clubfoot with exposure to the antiepileptic lamotrigine, and to investigate risk of other congenital anomalies (CA).Methods: This was a population-based case–malformed control study based on 21 EUROCAT CA registries covering 10.1 million births (1995–2011), including births to 2005 in which the clubfoot signal was generated and a subsequent independent study population of 6.3 million births. A total of 226,806 babies with CA included livebirths, stillbirths, and terminations of pregnancy following prenatal diagnosis. First-trimester lamotrigine monotherapy exposure in OC cases and clubfoot cases was compared to other …
Use of asthma medication during pregnancy and risk of specific congenital anomalies: A European case-malformed control study.
2015
Background: Pregnant women with asthma need to take medication during pregnancy.Objective: We sought to identify whether there is an increased risk of specific congenital anomalies after exposure to antiasthma medication in the first trimester of pregnancy.Methods: We performed a population-based case-malformed control study testing signals identified in a literature review. Odds ratios (ORs) of exposure to the main groups of asthma medication were calculated for each of the 10 signal anomalies compared with registrations with nonchromosomal, nonsignal anomalies as control registrations. In addition, exploratory analyses were done for each nonsignal anomaly. The data set included 76,249 reg…