Alaska infants are twice as likely to be born with major birth defects as infants in the U.S. as a whole, according to a new study by the state Department of Health and Social Services -- and officials are at a loss to explain why.
All races of Alaskans exceed national rates for "major congenital anomalies," according to the review of seven years of data (from 1996 through 2002) drawn from the Alaska Birth Defect Registry.
But rates were especially high among Alaska Natives, for whom birth defects were reported in 10.5 percent of all live births, compared to 6 percent for all Alaskans. Among white Alaskans the rate was 4 percent. Among all Americans the rate was 3 percent.
Alaska public health officials have long suspected that infants here suffer higher rates of birth defects, said Janine Schoellhorn, an analyst in the state's Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology unit. But previous evidence was limited and the number of birth defects varied substantially from year to year.
"This is the first time we've been able to produce estimates that we are confident in publishing -- because we now have several years of data," Schoellhorn said.
Full Story: http://www.adn.com/life/health/story/466924.html
