Health
Birth defects rise from lack of tests
By Wang Wen (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-04 11:29
Experts say a lack of pre-marital physical checks and pollution have pushed the number of Beijing babies with birth defects to 1.6 percent this year, twice as many as 10 years ago.
Deng Xingzhou, director of the Beijing municipal commission of population and family planning, said the most important reason for the increasing rate of birth defects is that couples do not have pre-marital physical examinations.
"The examination can find latency diseases before pregnancy and prevent birth defects," he said.
However, less than 30 percent of couples have such tests in Beijing, Deng said.
The local health bureau website said the increase in birth defects jumped from a steady 1 percent between 1997 and 2003, when the government stopped requiring couples to take the exam, to 1.4 percent in 2004.
Over the next four years it continued to rise to 1.7 percent, but then dropped off slightly to 1.6 percent this year.
The Dongcheng district commission of population and family planning said on Wednesday that less than 5 percent of couples took pre-marital physical examination in the district, possibly raising the risk of birth defects.
Although the examination is free and supported by the government, public participation is generally low.
"I don't really think it will be necessary," said Wang Yu, a 27-year old cartoonist who married in 2007. He said he would not terminate a baby predicted to have birth defects.
Wang also said that because the examination includes 25 separate items, it would take a lot of his spare time.
However, he added that he would accept a physical examination when his wife achieves their planned pregnancy next year to ensure the baby's health.
"Pollution in the city and pregnancies in older women can lead to birth defects," said Zhou Zhongshu, director of pediatrics at the China-Japan Friendship Hospital.
She said air pollution causes the incidence rate of birth defects in the city to be higher than in the countryside.
There were 1,388 babies with birth defects in Beijing in 2008, as many as 79 percent of which were born in inner city areas, the local health bureau website stated.
The website also said women who have their first baby after 35 years of age are more likely to produce babies with birth defects, at 1.7 percent compared with only 1 percent for younger mothers.
