BMJ  2003;327:929 (18 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7420.929

Letter

Retraction of paper on maternal diabetes

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—In a paper in the BMJ three of us (GH, LMI, and RTL) claimed that the excess of birth defects and perinatal deaths among births in women with pregestational diabetes was significantly lower in Norway compared with the northeast of England.¹ The analysis of the data from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway was, however, wrong and led to a wrong conclusion.

There are codes in the registry for different types of diabetes. By mistake Norwegian data included codes for gestational diabetes in the diabetes group, although it was intended to exclude those. We failed to realise the mistake even when the possibility was raised in correspondence in the journal.²

After the error was discovered and discussed at a joint meeting in Newcastle,³ one of us (NM), a clinician, reviewed the clinical records of 696 mothers with a code for diabetes in the Norwegian registry. When the definition . . . [Full text of this article]

Northern Diabetic Pregnancy Survey, Regional Maternity Survey Office, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4AA

lorentz.irgens@mfr.uib.no

Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National Hospital, Oslo, Norway

Medical Birth Registry of Norway, Haukeland Hospital, N-5021 Bergen, Norway

Medical Department, University Hospital of Oslo, Oslo

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Concerning retraction of paper on maternal diabetes

Lorentz M Irgens, et al.
bmj.com, 22 Oct 2003 [Full text]

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