Registration of Congenital Anomalies in the Dutch National Perinatal Registrations 518

Introduction: Concern about possible changes in the birth prevalence of certain congenital anomalies in relation to new reproductive techniques, or use of certain medication during pregnancy highlight the need for good quality national data on congenital anomalies. Up to now there are two regional EUROCAT-registries in the Netherlands, that provide good quality regional data. Because of the known regional differences in Europe, it is however, not possible to extrapolate these regional EUROCAT-data to national data. In the Netherlands there exist also two perinatal registration systems that register congenital anomalies. In the national birth registration (NBR) data are registered by the midwife or obstetrician immediately after birth. In the national neonatology registration (LNR) all children admitted to a pediatric ward in the first month of life are registered. The LNR therefore also contains data on congenital anomalies which are not detectable at birth but become manifest within the first month of life.