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Congenital anomalies are a significant health concern in Australia, and remain a major reason for hospitalisation in infancy and childhood. Congenital anomalies are also a leading cause of infant mortality in Australia.
This report compiles the available data from states and territories to update national information on selected congenital anomalies in 1998 to 2001. The report analyses 33 congenital anomalies in detail as agreed by the National Congenital Anomalies Steering Committee. It reports characteristics and outcomes of the births as well as demographic and pregnancy characteristics of their mothers. Information on terminations of pregnancy before 20 weeks of gestation for congenital anomalies is based on data provided from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia.
The estimated rates for each condition were calculated using the termination of pregnancy and live birth and stillbirth data provided by those four states. The total number of the anomalies reported here does not represent the total number of babies who had congenital anomalies. Some babies had more than one anomaly and the same baby will be counted for separate anomalies. Therefore, the total number of conditions will exceed the total number of babies who had congenital anomalies.
The data presented in this report are not comparable among the states and territories because of the differences in the data collections in each jurisdiction. This has been considered in the presentation of the data and information has been provided to assist with interpretation. The Northern Territory data are not included for this report as they are not resourced to provide the data to the expected standard. This report also includes a chapter on six conditions studied by the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit.
