Epidemiology of frontoethmoidal encephalomeningocoele in Burma

One hundred and thirty nine patients suffering from encephalomeningocoele and myelomeningocoele who had attended the neurosurgical outpatients department of the Rangoon People's Hospital were interviewed. A predominance of frontal encephalomeningocoele was found; a low proportion of these patients had been conceived in the cold season and an increased interval separated the index patients from the previous full term pregnancy of their mothers; no first degree relatives were affected. It is suggested that an environmental factor is implicated in the developmental aetiology.