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Trends in termination of pregnancy for neural tube defects in England and Wales from 2007 to 2017: Observational prospective study
Author(s) -
Allen Ruth,
James Andrew,
Sankaran Srividhya
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/pd.6060
Subject(s) - medicine , pregnancy , miscarriage , neural tube , obstetrics , public health , folic acid , observational study , reproductive medicine , gestation , pediatrics , neural tube defect , environmental health , fetus , pathology , embryo , genetics , biology , microbiology and biotechnology
Abstract Background/Objective Neural tube defects (NTDs) affect approximately 300,000 pregnancies worldwide each year. Many of these pregnancies are lost to miscarriage or termination of pregnancy. Here, we have analysed the trends of termination of pregnancy for NTDs from the national data for England and Wales. Methods Data for all terminations for residents in England and Wales for the period of 2007–2017 were obtained through Health and Social Act 4 (HSA4) submitted to the Department of Health. Using the ICD‐10 codes, terminations for NTDs were selected for analysis. The statistical test Chi‐squared was performed using SPSS‐v25, where appropriate. Results In the 11‐year period, there were 28,866 terminations under Ground E; of which 4425 (15.33%) had a diagnosis of NTD. The number of NTD cases increased over the time period from 308 in 2007 to 517 in 2017 (67.9%). Significant results were also seen when analysing the relationship between ethnicity, gestation and terminations where an NTD was diagnosed. Conclusion With the availability of routine prenatal ultrasound, the termination for NTDs is on the rise in England and Wales, in spite of the health advice of periconceptional folic acid. This study demonstrates the need for implementation of further programmes to increase public health awareness of folic supplementation and government initiation of fortification to reduce NTDs.