BMJ  2006;332:423-424 (18 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7538.423-a

Letter

The incidence of gastroschisis

Research urgently needs resources

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

EDITOR—Kilby says that gastroschisis shows an increasing temporal trend in the number of affected babies born in the United Kingdom,¹ a trend that has also been observed in other parts of the world.²

We evaluated the data of 25 registries of members of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research (ICBDSR) with more than seven yearsofdata—a homogeneously ascertained and reliable dataset on termination of pregnancies.³ Fourteen registries showed a significant increasing temporal trend of gastroschisis (table). No similar trend was observed in the 36 malformations analysed in the dataset. We excluded the possible bias of a simultaneous decreasing trend in omphalocele indicating changes in reporting nomenclature or coding.

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Rates of gastroschisis in 14 members' registries of International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research with significant temporal trend

 

The increasing trend of gastroschisis is worldwide—namely, Japan, Australia, North-Central-South America, North-Central Europe—but not universal. For . . . [Full text of this article]

Centre of the International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research, Via Pilo Albertell 9, 00195 Rome, Italy icbd@icbd.org

ECLAMC, Departamento de Genetica, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Caixa Postal 926, 20001-970, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil castilla@centroin.com.br

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