Birth Defects

• Purpose: To identify newborns with birth defects, assure that these children receive appropriate medical and social services, and monitor trends.
• Key Information: Birth defects diagnoses, testing and laboratory data, social service referral and consultations, and maternal and infant demographics.
• Collection Period: 2002 to present

Rhode Island Numbers

• The overall prevalence rate for birth defects from 2004 to 2008 in Rhode Island is 480 per 10,000 live births, or about 1 in 20 babies born with a birth defect.
• A three-year moving average shows a 6.2% decreasing trend in overall birth defects prevalence from 2004 to 2008. (more)

Source:Birth Defects Data Book 2010, figures 1 and 2