Spina bifida in the Czech Republic - incidence and prenatal diagnostics

Aim: Retrospective epidemiological analysis of the incidence and prenatal diagnosis of spina bifida in the Czech Republic from 1994-2015 taken from the databases of the National Registry of Congenital Defects (NRVV) and data from the Czech Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Materials and methods: We used the data from the NRVV kept in the Register of Reproductive Health at the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of Czech Republic from 1994-2015. The second source were data on prenatal diagnosis collected under the guidance of the Czech Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics. In our work, we analyzed the annual frequencies and their changes in both born children and prenatally-diagnosed cases. We also analyzed weeks of pregnancy in prenatally-diagnosed cases. Results: From 1994-2015, 981 cases of spina bifida were diagnosed. Prenatally-diagnosed spina bifida and pregnancies that were prematurely terminated included 635 cases, while 346 cases were detected in infants. In relative numbers, the overall incidence rate was 4.36, the incidence of prenatally-diagnosed cases was 2.82, and 1.54 in newborns (per 10,000 live births). The effectiveness of prenatal diagnosis (P < 0.001) and the incidence of prenatally diagnosed cases (P < 0.001) increased significantly. At the same time, there was a statistically significant decrease in the incidence in newborns (P < 0.001). Both of these trends went against each other, therefore the overall trend was not statistically significant (P = 0.082). There was no change in the pregnancy week during prenatal diagnosis. Conclusion: Due to the successful prenatal diagnosis, there was a statically significant decrease in the diagnosis of spina bifida in children born during the observed period.