Study Faults States on Birth Defects

Wednesday, February 20th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Only eight states are doing an excellent job of tracking birth defects, the leading cause of death among infants in the United States, a study concluded Wednesday.

The report shows ``we lack the most basic tool for preventing birth defects _ information,'' said Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America's Health, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that published the report. ``Without knowing the causes of birth defects, we are helpless to prevent them.''

Birth defects are the leading cause of death among infants in the United States. According to the March of Dimes, 150,000 babies are born in the United States each year with birth defects _ one out of every 28 infants.

But many states lack the monitoring mechanisms to provide any insight to the problem, the report says.

Active state monitoring programs and registries could provide researchers much-needed information about the rates of birth defects and help identify trends, advocates argue.

The report examined programs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Only eight states received an ``A'' grade _ Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Texas _ meaning all eight have active surveillance and ways to collect and verify data. But even those states aren't considered perfect. Two do not publish data in a timely manner and two do not cover births in the entire state, researchers said.

Fourteen programs earned a ``B'' and ``10'' received a ``C.'' Another 11 states were given a ``D,'' indicating they are only just beginning to develop programs. Nine states had no program at all or a program so marginal that it received an ``F.''

``Over the last two decades there has been a dramatic decline in the overall infant mortality rate but birth defects continue to be the leading cause of infant deaths,'' said Dr. Jennifer L. Howse, president of the March of Dimes. ``We must be able to detect a pattern if we are going to be able to target research efforts.''

Grades were based on criteria that included the ability to carry out tracking and data-sharing capacity.

States should improve their birth defect registries, create them if they don't exist and ensure adequate funding, the report said. It also recommended that the Centers for Disease Control establish minimum national standards and help finance birth-defects registries in every state.

Congress should also establish a nationwide tracking network for chronic diseases like birth defects, cancer and asthma, researchers recommended.

The trust, which developed the study, is sponsored by several foundations, including the March of Dimes.