%0 Journal Article
%T A reproductive history of mothers with spina bifida offspring-a new look at old issues
%A Thomas L Farley
%J Fluids and Barriers of the CNS
%D 2006
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1743-8454-3-10
%X Data from 271 mothers was collected by interview 18.3 mean years after the affected child's birth. Data analysis was by ¦Ö-square, Fisher exact test and t test with a p value less than 0.05 considered significant.Females made up 56.5% of affected offspring (probands) and 53.1% of unaffected offspring. The spina bifida and anencephaly recurrence rate was 4.0%. The twinning rate was 8.6/1000 live births. 24.4% of mothers had a history of spontaneous abortion and the rate varied by pregnancy order from 87 to 185/1000 live births. Duration of pregnancies subsequent to probands was shorter for female than male probands. Mean birth weight of probands with high lesions exceeded those with low lesions. A spontaneous abortion preceded female probands more often than males as compared to live births. Affected males with high lesions conceived by white mothers were at greater risk to be spontaneously aborted. Previous inter-gestational interval for mothers with no history of spontaneous abortion was longer for probands than unaffected offspring but not for mothers with a history of spontaneous abortion.Overall, and for every major subgroup of these mothers, more affected and unaffected female than male offspring were born. Differences by gender and lesion level among probands and between probands and unaffected offspring were consistent with an etiology of unknown genetic factors, hormonal and/or immune system factors.Spina bifida is a disorder of the cerebrospinal fluid system resulting from a failure of neural tube closure in the fetus and associated with accompanying deformities leading to hydrocephalus. Over the past twenty-five years, a number of studies [1] have demonstrated that environmental and genetic factors play an important part in neural tube defect (NTD) etiology. Dietary folic acid fortification [2] and supplementation [3], in particular, have shown success as preventative measures. However, despite such progress, much is still unknown about the complex, multi-f
%U http://www.fluidsbarrierscns.com/content/3/1/10