Rates for specific birth defects among offspring of Japanese mothers, Hawaii, 1986–2002

Abstract

The objective of this investigation was to identify the rates for specific birth defects among the offspring of Japanese mothers in Hawaii and compare them to rates among the offspring of white mothers. Cases were all infants and fetuses with any of 54 specific birth defects born to Japanese and white mothers identified by a population-based birth defects registry in Hawaii. The rates were calculated for both racial groups and comparisons made by calculating the rate ratio and 95% confidence interval. The rates among the offspring of Japanese mothers were substantially higher for four of the birth defects (pulmonary valve atresia and stenosis, anomalous pulmonary venous return, cleft lip with/without cleft palate, small intestinal atresia and stenosis) and substantially lower for five of the birth defects (pyloric stenosis, hypospadias and epispadias, renal agenesis and hypoplasia, obstructive genitourinary defect, syndactyly). After adjusting for maternal age, these significantly elevated or lower rates remained. Moreover, the rate was significantly higher among the offspring of Japanese mothers for anotia/microtia, tetralogy of Fallot, and persistent cloaca and significantly lower for transposition of great arteries. The rates for a number of specific birth defects differed between Japanese and white mothers in Hawaii.