Epidemiology of hypospadias.

Abstract

Birth defects affect about 3% of babies and some are born with major structural chromosomal abnormalities. Birth defects are a major cause of infant mortality. As other causes of infant mortality have been controlled, birth defects have risen in importance. It is surprising how very little we know about the cause of birth defects and how to prevent them. What is known is that prescription medications cause birth defects. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) efforts in the prevention of birth defects and the efforts of epidemiologists worldwide started as a result of the realization that exposure to environmental agents is deleterious. Specifically, thalidomide, the drug that caused an epidemic of limb reduction deformities in Europe in the late 1950s and early 1960s, spurred on the idea that synthetic compounds may be teratogenic (Hamilton and Poswillo, 1972).