Maternal Medicaid Recipient Status and Congenital Malformations among New York State Live Births in 2010.

Background: Congenital malformations are a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, and risk for some congenital malformations varies by socioeconomic status (SES). Medicaid provides health insurance for people with low income, and covers approximately half of all live births in the United States. Income level is one aspect of SES.

Maternal autoimmune disease and birth defects in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study.

Background: Little is known about the association between maternal autoimmune disease or its treatment and the risk of birth defects. We examined these associations using data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a multi-site, population-based, case-control study.

Methods: Analyses included 25,116 case and 9897 unaffected control infants with estimated delivery dates between 1997 and 2009.

Sex ratios among infants with birth defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study, 1997-2009.

A small number of population-based studies have examined sex differences among infants with birth defects. This study presents estimates of sex ratio for both isolated cases and those with multiple congenital anomalies, as well as by race/ethnicity. Male-female sex ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated for 25,952 clinically reviewed case infants included in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (1997-2009), a large population-based case-control study of birth defects.

Maternal periconceptional alcohol consumption and congenital limb deficiencies.

Background: Women of childbearing age report high rates of alcohol consumption, which may result in alcohol exposure during early pregnancy. Epidemiological research on congenital limb deficiencies (LDs) and periconceptional exposure to alcohol is inconclusive.

Methods: Data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS) were examined for associations between LDs and patterns of maternal periconceptional (1 month before conception through the first trimester) alcohol consumption among LD case (n = 906) and unaffected control (n = 8352) pregnancies with expected delivery dates from 10/1997 through 12/2007.

Self-reported maternal cigarette smoke exposure during the periconceptional period and the risk for omphalocoele.

Background: We investigated whether maternal exposure to cigarette smoke was associated with omphalocoele and whether periconceptional folic acid modified the association.

Methods:  : We analysed data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study on omphalocoele case (n = 301) and control (n = 8135) mothers for infants born from 1997 through 2007. Mothers who reported active smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke during the periconceptional period (1 month before conception to 3 months after) were considered exposed.

Registry data quality improvement by identifying discrepancies between assigned codes and text descriptions of birth defects.

Introduction: Birth defects surveillance programs support efforts to prevent and address population health. For 30 years, the New York State (NYS) Department of Health (DOH) Congenital Malformations Registry (CMR) has been receiving reports of children with birth defects diagnosed from birth to age 2 years as required by NYS DOH regulation. Our objective in this effort was to improve the accuracy of British Pediatric Association (BPA) codes assigned to case reports in the NYS CMR.