Reproductive history in mothers of children with neural tube defects.
The reproductive history of 100 women with at least 1 child with a neural tube defect (NTD) has been studied. The data analyzed correspond to the period previous to their first visit to a genetic counseling service. A total of 204 pregnancies resulted in 205 outcomes. Of the 100 sibships, 14 (14%) had more than 1 affected member. The pregnancy was shorter than 28 weeks in 56/205 (27%) of the total outcomes. Of 104 evaluable previous outcomes, 34 corresponded to short pregnancies, positioned before an affected (23/60, 38%), a healthy (2/18, 11%), or an undiagnosed product (9/26, 35%). Short pregnancies subsequent to affected outcomes were also increased. The inter-gestational interval varied according to diagnosis: it was longer in the affected group than in the healthy one (0.1 > p > 0.05) and the subsequent intervals were shorter for the affected group (p < 0.05). An increased number of abortions adjacent to affected offspring and a changing fertility pattern, depending on the product diagnosis, point to an environmental etiological component in this high-risk NTD group of mothers.
Rivas
F
F
División de Genética, Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente, Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Guadalajara, Jalisco, México. frivas@guadalajara.net
Dávalos
I P
IP
Olivares
N
N
Dávalos
N O
NO
Pérez-Medina
R
R
Gómez-Partida
G
G
Chakraborty
R
R
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D008423:Maternal Age; D008800:Mexico / Q000453:epidemiology; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009679:Nuclear Family; D011247:Pregnancy; D012008:Recurrence; D012307:Risk Factors