[Survey of birth defects in Huixian]

A survey of births defects was made of 8,721 babies born in Huixian from May 1983 to January 1988. We identified 27 kinds of different physical defects and found 168 cases with congenital malformations (19.26%), slightly high on were defects related to nervous, gastrointestinal, locomotor and skin system. Incidence of physical defects among foetus and still births was evident higher than among live births. Among all the cases, the sex ratio was 1:106: incidence of birth defects was higher in mountainous areas than in the plain, and much lower in the first quarter of the year than in any other. Meanwhile, 28 suspected causative factors were further investigated and it was found that the incidence of birth defects was related to a history of birth defects of mental retardation of parents, certain illness during pregnancy and the intake of certain drugs during mother's pregnancy.