| Abstract: | Data of all categories of birth defects among live and still births from 28 weeks of gestation to a period within 7 days after delivery were collected. During a period of 12 months (1986.10-1987.9), there were 1,243,284 perinates monitored in 945 hospitals of 29 provinces, cities and autonomous regions. Among these, 16,172 perinates were with birth defects. Altogether, 101 categories of birth defects were noted. The total incidence of the 101 categories of birth defects in China was 130.1 per 10,000. The 5 leading categories of major birth defects by frequency were: anencephaly, hydrocephaly, spina bifida, cleft lip with cleft palate, and congenital heart diseases. Perinatal deaths totaled 33,137 and the perinatal mortality was 26.7 per 10,000. Among the causes of perinatal death, congenital malformation accounted for 17.8%. There were 44,469 births (35.8%) of full-term low birth weight infants, and 1,748 of them were with birth defects. The incidence of birth defects in full-term low birth weight infants was 393.1 per 10,000. |
