[Cleft lip and cleft palate birth rate in Bavaria before and after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident].
BACKGROUND
Cleft lip and palates (CLP) occur with a frequency of between 1 and 2 cases in 1000 live births and thus belong to the most frequent congenital anomalies. In the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), records covering 1967-1989 for CLP newborns show a 9.4% increase of the prevalence of CLP from 1987 to 1989, possibly due to Chernobyl. DATA AND STATISTICAL METHOD: In Bavaria, all congenital malformations in children's hospitals have been recorded from 1984 to 1991. Among these data, 1324 cases with CLP were found. A spatial-temporal analysis aimed at uncovering a possible association of the CLP occurrence with the Chernobyl fallout on a district level, as well as a synoptic analysis of the GDR and Bavarian data, were carried out.


RESULTS
In Bavaria, from October 1986 to December 1990, the CLP frequency increased by 9.5% (p=0.10) relative to the trend as computed from the remaining years. The association of CLP rates with fallout on a district level is reflected by a significant relative risk (RR) per kBq/m(2) of RR=1.008 (p=0.03). A synoptic analysis of the Bavarian data and the GDR data restricted to the overlapping time window from 1984 to 1989 discloses a simultaneous significant jump of the CLP prevalence by 8.6% (p=0.02) after 1986.


CONCLUSIONS
The presumption of a long-term increase of CLP after exposure to Chernobyl fallout is corroborated by the analysis of the Bavarian congenital malformation data.
Scherb
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H
GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Neuherberg. scherb@gsf.de
Weigelt
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D000016:Abnormalities, Radiation-Induced / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011210:Power Plants; D011247:Pregnancy; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000009:adverse effects; D018788:Radioactive Hazard Release; D019371:Topography, Medical; D014455:Ukraine
D011847:Radioactive Fallout