High incidence of neural tube defects in Northern part of India.
BACKGROUND
In the absence of primary care and prevailing associated social stigma, many patients of neural tube defects (NTDs) from remote areas die without getting any treatment. The high number of such untreated cases and unregistered deaths in these areas made us ponders to the fact that tertiary care center-based studies do not represent the true incidence of NTDs.


METHODS
We did a population-based survey for NTDs births of rural areas from Jaunpur to Ghazipur district in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. These districts are among the least developed areas of Northern India in Uttar Pradesh among other 17.


RESULTS
The data show an incidence of 7.48 per 1000 live births.


CONCLUSIONS
Besides of unawareness regarding periconceptional folate supplementation, intensive effort is required to design adequately powered studies to search other key factors responsible for high prevalence of NTDs.
Department of Anatomy, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Sunil Kumar
SK
Rai
Department of Anatomy, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Royana
R
Singh
Department of Neuro Surgery, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Sharad
S
Pandey
Department of Neuro Surgery, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Kulwant
K
Singh
Department of Neuro Surgery, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Neeraj
N
Shinde
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Sangita
S
Rai
Department of Paediatric, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rajniti
R
Prasad
Department of Anatomy, Sir Sunder Lal Hospital, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Satya Narayan
SN
Shama
Epidemiology; India; meningomyelocele; neural tube defect
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