Abstract
BackgroundPrevious reports on the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) in China did not include cases of NTDs that were less than 28 weeks of gestational age (GA) and hence did not accurately reflect the total prevalence of NTDs or the geographic and urban–rural disparities in their prevalence. This article includes cases of NTDs that were less than 28 weeks of GA.MethodsData used in this study were collected from 2006 to 2008 using a nationwide hospital-based registry, the Chinese Birth Defects Monitoring Network. The total prevalence ratio (PR) of NTDs and their subtypes, the ratios of PR (PRR), and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to analyse geographic disparities at both the regional (north, south) and provincial levels and to analyse disparities between rural and urban areas.ResultsOverall, the total PR of NTDs was 14.0 per 10,000 births. The PRR of NTDs of rural women between the north and south region was 2.26 (95% CI: 2.04-2.52), which was much higher than that of urban women (PRR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.41-1.72). The three subtypes of NTDs had different geographic distribution at the level of province. The urban–rural PRR of NTDs was 2.14 (95% CI: 1.94-2.34) in the north but only 1.47 (95% CI: 1.31-1.66) in the south.ConclusionsThere is a high total prevalence of NTDs, which remains one of the major public health concerns in China. Eliminating the geographic and urban–rural disparities in the disease burden is a priority for future intervention.
Highlights
Previous reports on the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) in China did not include cases of NTDs that were less than 28 weeks of gestational age (GA) and did not accurately reflect the total prevalence of NTDs or the geographic and urban–rural disparities in their prevalence
During 2006 to 2008, a total of 3,168 cases of NTDs were identified, which yielded a total prevalence ratio (PR) of 14.0 per 10,000 births
Anencephaly accounted for the largest proportion of NTDs cases (51.14%) while in the north, spina bifida accounted for the largest proportion (49.21%)
Summary
Previous reports on the prevalence of neural tube defects (NTDs) in China did not include cases of NTDs that were less than 28 weeks of gestational age (GA) and did not accurately reflect the total prevalence of NTDs or the geographic and urban–rural disparities in their prevalence. Neural tube defects (NTDs) are one of the most common birth defects These defects are caused by abnormal development of the neural tube during embryonic life, which produces injuries of the central nervous system (the brain focused on the large residential (urban–rural) and geographic (northern-southern) disparities in NTDs [7,8,9,10]. Most of these studies only examined cases of NTDs that were greater than or equal to 28 weeks of gestational age (GA), and terminations of pregnancy or births (live and still) affected with NTDs that were less than 28 weeks of GA were not included in their analysis. Studies on the total prevalence of NTDs and its epidemiological characteristics can help us understand the disease burden, make effective interventions, and evaluate primary public health measures
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