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Successful Birth Defects Prevention in Texas Praised by March of Dimes
NEW YORK – Jan. 14, 2000 – A successful effort to prevent the recurrence of serious birth defects of the brain and spine known as neural tube defects (NTDs) among babies born along the Texas-Mexico border received high praise today from the March of Dimes.
Today’s issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the results of an intensive outreach effort by federal and state officials in response to a 1990-1991 cluster of babies with NTDs in the 14 Texas counties on the border with Mexico.
Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes, said the study is good news for Mexican-American women because it demonstrates that the B vitamin folic acid is effective in preventing NTDs in their babies.
She said the March of Dimes has been active in Texas for several years with local advocacy and education efforts to investigate and prevent NTDs and track their occurrence. Nationwide, the March of Dimes is conducting a $10 million, multi-year public health education program aimed at reducing NTDs by up to 30 percent using folic acid.
NTDs are among the most serious and common birth defects in the U.S. Each year, an estimated 2,500 babies each year are born with these defects, and many additional affected pregnancies result in miscarriage or stillbirth. The most common NTD is spina bifida, a leading cause of childhood paralysis. Another NTD is anencephaly, a fatal condition in which a baby is born with a severely underdeveloped brain and skull.
"Neural Tube Defect Surveillance and Folic Acid Intervention Along the Texas-Mexico Border, 1993-1998," by K. Hendricks, M.D., M.P.H., and colleagues in the Texas Department of Health, was published in MMWR, volume 49, number 1, January 14, 2000.
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