§ 68. Mr. David PorterTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what has been the reduction in the notification rate for babies with central nervous systems defects.
§ 86. Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the notification rate for spina bifida.
§ Mrs. CurrieInformation for both types of malformations are shown in the table. They refer to malformations observed in both live and still births. The statistics are a by-product of the congenital malformations notified to OPCS. These are likely to be an incomplete measure of the total number of affected infants, partly because the notification scheme is voluntary, but, more importantly, because in the interests of obtaining data quickly the notifications refer only to malformations observed at birth or up to seven days after birth.
Notification rates per 10,000 total births of babies born with selected congenital malformations, England and Wales, 1977–1986 Malformations Year Central nervous system1 Spina bifida2 1977 32.5 15.3 1978 29.2 14.0 1979 25.5 13.1 1980 22.3 11.4 1981 19.2 10.4 1982 16.1 8.1 1983 14.5 6.7 1984 12.6 5.9 1985 11.0 5.5 1986 9.6 4.0 1 ICD codes (9th revision)—740, 741, 7432, 7421, 7420, 320–359, 7422, 7424, 7425, 7428, 7429, 7676. 2 ICD code (9th revision)—741.