Birth Defects throughout the Nation
How do we know how many children are born with birth defects? How is this data collected?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention handles tracking of particular diseases and health concerns. The part of the CDC that mostly deals with tracking this data is the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. This branch uses many different forms of research to collect this data for the nation. Particularly for birth defects, the two most common forms of data collection are active and passive. The active form of data collection involves professionals in public health or health care going to hospitals in search of records and data. Passive data collection is when the doctors or hospitals send out their records to public health databases such as this one.
This sounds like a lot of work on either end of the job, depending if the hospital is sending records or if the public health organization is going in search of the information. Due to this labor, only 42 out of the 50 states are currently involved in tracking birth defects. Along with the work involved, not all birth defects are known. Due to this, only data for 12 birth defects are currently available on the national data website. A few of these defects include cleft lip, Down syndrome, and spina bifida. Although the data is not fully complete, these statistics give a good idea of what birth defects are most common and allows for the continued research for causes of these defects.
This sounds like a lot of work on either end of the job, depending if the hospital is sending records or if the public health organization is going in search of the information. Due to this labor, only 42 out of the 50 states are currently involved in tracking birth defects. Along with the work involved, not all birth defects are known. Due to this, only data for 12 birth defects are currently available on the national data website. A few of these defects include cleft lip, Down syndrome, and spina bifida. Although the data is not fully complete, these statistics give a good idea of what birth defects are most common and allows for the continued research for causes of these defects.
How does this effect me?
Although you may not think this effects you now, but this data is very important for the future of this nation. There are many people that are parents currently or want to become parents later in life that have to understand the risks along with having children. It's important to look at research and data, such as this, to learn about the complications that could occur with pregnancies. Although it is not fully understood yet, there are many environmental factors that could lead to birth defects. For example, there has been a link between chemical exposure and nervous system defects in the baby. This is something that will effect the population for the rest of history, so it's important to be aware and conscious about behaviors.
Sources:
National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network
http://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showCollectingBDData.action
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