Abstract
Aim: Since the thalidomide-catastrophe in the 50th and 60th the sensibility for children with limb defects has become important in the population. Besides the incidence of limb defects, the aetiology of limb defects is a very important question.
Method: Like the ESPED-Model (Documentation of rare paediatric diseases in Germany) we send every three months a letter to 1073 gynaecological clinics to ask the number of live and still births and the number of limb defects. If there are limb defects announced, a second letter is send to ask details about pregnancy, birth and family. The limb defects are registered after the ICD-10-classification.
Results: Time of registration: 48 months (April 2000 – April 2004). Number of all registered births: 1070541, number of live births with limb defects: 1534 (0,14%), number of still births with limb defects: 55 (1,7%), minor limb defects like polydactyly (22,4%) are more often than major defects of the tibia (1,0%) or of the fibula (1,6%), hereditary in 9,7%, no correlation to the profession of parents or their age, no correlation to nicotine abuses, nothing special concerned pregnancy (amniocentesis in 3,3%, oligohydramnie in 0,5%, etc.) and birth (caesarean section in 29%, etc.).
Conclusion: It is very important to continue the registration of limb defects in Germany to terminate the number of incidence of the different types of limb defects and to define there aetiology.
Theses abstracts were prepared by Professor Roger Lemaire. Correspondence should be addressed to EFORT Central Office, Freihofstrasse 22, CH-8700 Küsnacht, Switzerland.
