BMJ  2006;332:424 (18 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7538.424

Letter

The incidence of gastroschisis

Is also increasing in Spain, particularly among babies of young mothers

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

EDITOR—Kilby drew attention to the increasing incidence of gastroschisis in the United Kingdom, particularly among babies of young mothers.¹ This has also been shown by Donaldson and by Mastroiacovo et al (previous letter).²

In the Spanish collaborative study of congenital malformations (ECEMC), an ongoing case-control study and surveillance system,^3-5 we have also observed an apparent increasing trend in the birth prevalence of gastroschisis in Spain among mothers younger than 20 but not among older mothers (table).

View this table: [in this window] [in a new window]   Birth prevalence of gastroschisis per 10 000 newborn infants (with 95% confidence intervals) in two age groups in Spain between 1980 and 2004

 

Our results do not reach significance, although the sample sizes are small, so we cannot rule out that the observed increase was by chance. However, termination of pregnancy after detecting fetal anomalies has been legal in Spain since 1985, and data on such terminations cannot be obtained . . . [Full text of this article]

ECEMC (Spanish Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations), CIAC (Centro de Investigación sobre Anomalías Congénitas), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Sinesio Delgado 6, 28029 Madrid, Spain eva.bermejo@isciii.es

ECEMC (Spanish Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformations), CIAC (Centro de Investigación sobre Anomalías Congénitas), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Sinesio Delgado 6, 28029 Madrid, Spain

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Case-control study of self reported genitourinary infections and risk of gastroschisis: findings from the national birth defects prevention study, 1997-2003

Marcia L Feldkamp, Jennita Reefhuis, James Kucik, Sergey Krikov, Andy Wilson, Cynthia A Moore, John C Carey, and Lorenzo D Botto
BMJ 2008 336: 1420-1423. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

The incidence of gastroschisis

Mark D Kilby
BMJ 2006 332: 250-251. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Feldkamp, M. L, Reefhuis, J., Kucik, J., Krikov, S., Wilson, A., Moore, C. A, Carey, J. C, Botto, L. D (2008). Case-control study of self reported genitourinary infections and risk of gastroschisis: findings from the national birth defects prevention study, 1997-2003. BMJ 336: 1420-1423 [Abstract] [Full text]  

Online poll

Find out more >>