[Occurrence of congenital esophageal defects in the Czech Republic 1961-2000--incidence, prenatal diagnosis and prevalence according on maternal age].

OBJECTIVE

To present incidences of the oesophageal atresia or stenosis and their maternal age distribution. To analyse maternal age as a possible risk factor for the defects studied.

DESIGN

Retrospective epidemiological study.

SETTING

Institute for Care of Mother and Child, Prague, Czech Republic.

METHODS

Retrospective epidemiological study of oesophageal atresia and stenosis using data from the population based register of congenital malformations in the Czech Republic over the 1961-2000 period. The main source of data for this paper is the database of congenital anomalies at the Institute for Care of Mother and Child in Prague (the 1961-1990 period) and the data analysed by the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (the 1987-2000 period).

RESULTS

Out of the total number of 5,589,888 births in the Czech Republic in 1961-2000 period, 804 cases of oesophageal atresia and stenosis were registered. Mean incidence of oesophageal atresia and stenosis in the period under the study was 1.51 per 10,000 livebirths. In the 1991-2000 period an increase of incidences of this congenital anomaly was revealed in the Czech Republic. By application of the two-sided 95% CI, statistically significant correlation was found in women of 39 years of age and older.

CONCLUSIONS

Statistically significant increase of risk (for age as a risk factor) was found in maternal age groups of 39 years of age and over.