Department of Health written question – answered at on 14 July 2015.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest information they have regarding high risk groups suffering neural tube defects at birth.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the take-up of advice given on National Health Service websites about preventing spina bifida is currently monitored.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many live births where the child was diagnosed with spina bifida, hydrocephalus or anencephaly there have been in each of the past five years.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the postcodes of mothers of babies born with congenital abnormalities are yet available on the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the implications for health equality of their current policy regarding the prevention of neural tube defect-affected pregnancies.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether any independent scientific advisory committee has been commissioned to study the causes and consequences of neural tube defect-affected pregnancies.
Information on high risk groups suffering neural tube defects at birth is not collected centrally.
There are no current mechanisms in place for monitoring the take-up of advice given on the NHS Choices website about preventing spina bifida.
The British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers (BINOCAR) collects information about the mother and child, including postcode of residence, mother’s age, pregnancy length, pregnancy outcome, when and how the anomaly was identified and the details of each anomaly.
Information on congenital abnormalities including spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly is collected by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers. Data is currently available for 2009–2012.
The following table shows the number of live births for years 2009-2012
Number of cases, birth prevalence (per 10,000 total births) and 95% CIs according to congenital anomaly subgroup; six BINOCAR registers (coverage: 36% of births in England and Wales): 2009-2012 – Live Births | ||||
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
Congenital anomaly | ||||
Spina bifida | 31 | 53 | 34 | 44 |
Hydrocephalus | 48 | 85 | 72 | 84 |
Anencephalus and similar | 4 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
In line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, health professionals use appropriate opportunities to advise all women who may become pregnant that they can most easily reduce the risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect by taking folic acid supplements. This information is also available on the NHS Choices website.
The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) was, however, commissioned to provide advice to government on the impact of folic acid fortification to improve the folate status of women and therefore reduce the number of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects. This built on previous advice from SACN’s predecessor the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy in 2000. The Government is currently considering the recommendations that SACN made alongside other information sources, including the latest folate status data and expects to make an announcement on this in due course.
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