High incidence of anencephaly and legal rights
Nassaralla, S.M.; Nassaralla, J.J.
Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research 29(10): 1301-1306
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0100-879X PMID: 9181100 Document Number: 457278
This work reports a high incidence of anencephaly in a small Brazilian town (Santos Dumont, MG), analyzes its impact on the local population, and studies the legal rights of this population to protect itself from the financial burden and human suffering that this "epidemic" of anencephaly has caused. From 1983 through 1992, 49% more anencephalic infants were delivered in Santos Dumont than would be expected from the incidence of 1:1,000 births for the general population. There were 10,712 births from 1983 to 1992 in a single maternity hospital, and 16 of these births were anencephalic infants, representing 1.49:1,000. The occurrence of anencephaly varied with mother's age, and an incidence of 1.9 in 1,000 infants was found for women ranging in age from 20 to 29 years. In addition, 4 of 5 anencephalic infants were females, and 2 of 3 anencephalic infants were stillborn. No genetic or environmental factors were identified to account for this extremely high incidence of anencephaly in this population of about 50,000.