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OBJECTIVE To assess whether use of specific selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or venlafaxine in early pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of birth defects, with emphasis on cardiovascular birth defects even when accounting for lifestyle or other familial confounding. DESIGN Multicountry population based cohort study, including sibling controlled design. SETTING Nord...

This paper tests whether the strength of the "spring spike" in birth defects is related to agricultural production and urban location using Texas Birth Defects Registry data for the period 1996-2007. We find evidence of a spike in birth defects among children conceived in the spring and summer, but it is more pronounced in urban non-agricultural counties than in other types of counties. Further...

OBJECTIVE Several studies have shown an increased risk for neural tube defects associated with prepregnancy maternal obesity. Because few recent studies have examined the relation between maternal prepregnancy obesity and overweight and other birth defects, we explored the relation for several birth defects and compared our findings with those of previous studies. METHODS We conducted a popul...

OBJECTIVE To determine the risk of major birth defects in cohorts of children conceived through IVF or through IUI as compared with naturally conceived children. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Academic medical center. PATIENT(S) Children conceived by IVF or IUI at the University of Iowa from 1989 through 2002, compared with a matched cohort of naturally conceived children. I...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the association between antibacterial medications and selected birth defects. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Population-based, multisite, case-control study of women who had pregnancies affected by 1 of more than 30 eligible major birth defects identified via birth defect surveillance programs in 10 states (n = 13 155) and control women randomly selected from the same...

BACKGROUND The biological mechanisms by which environmental metals are associated with birth defects are largely unknown. Systems biology-based approaches may help to identify key pathways that mediate metal-induced birth defects as well as potential targets for prevention. OBJECTIVES First, we applied a novel computational approach to identify a prioritized biological pathway that associates...

BACKGROUND National assisted reproductive technology (ART) data collections that rely on practitioners' reports of birth defects have consistently reported lower proportions of children with birth defects than record linkage studies that link ART infants to birth and malformation registers. METHODS We compared the birth defect data reported to the national Australian Assisted Conception Data ...

Cara T. Mai,* Tiffany Riehle-Colarusso, Alissa O’Halloran, Janet D. Cragan, Richard S. Olney, Angela Lin, Marcia Feldkamp, Lorenzo D. Botto, Russel Rickard, Marlene Anderka, Mary Ethen, Carol Stanton, Joan Ehrhardt, and Mark Canfield, for the National Birth Defects Prevention Network National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atl...