Snyder R D, Fakadej A F, Riggs J E
Department of Neurology, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown.
J Child Neurol. 1991 Oct;6(4):304-5. doi: 10.1177/088307389100600403.
The ethical issues concerning the use of fetal tissue as a source for organ transplantation has focused interest on anencephaly. For reasons that are not entirely clear, the incidence of anencephaly has been declining. As anencephaly is easily recognized and invariably fatal, mortality figures provide an excellent reflection of incidence. In the United States, between 1968 and 1987, infant mortality rates per 100,000 live births due to anencephaly declined from 22.4 to 12.1 (46.0%) for male infants and from 32.7 to 16.6 (49.2%) for female infants. However, when separated by race, the mortality rate declined for white male infants from 25.0 to 13.3 (46.8%) but only decreased from 9.0 to 7.7 (14.4%) for nonwhite male infants. The mortality rate declined for white female infants from 36.7 to 17.6 (52.0%) and actually increased slightly from 12.8 to 13.2 (3.1%) for nonwhite female infants. Thus, the declining incidence of anencephaly reflects a declining incidence of affected white infants but not of affected nonwhite infants.
将胎儿组织用作器官移植来源所涉及的伦理问题引发了对无脑畸形的关注。由于一些尚不完全清楚的原因，无脑畸形的发病率一直在下降。由于无脑畸形易于识别且必然致命，死亡率数据能很好地反映发病率。在美国，1968年至1987年间，每10万例活产男婴中因无脑畸形导致的婴儿死亡率从22.4降至12.1（下降了46.0%），女婴则从32.7降至16.6（下降了49.2%）。然而，按种族划分后，白人男婴的死亡率从25.0降至13.3（下降了46.8%），而非白人男婴仅从9.0降至7.7（下降了14.4%）。白人女婴的死亡率从36.7降至17.6（下降了52.0%），非白人女婴的死亡率实际上从12.8略微升至13.2（上升了3.1%）。因此，无脑畸形发病率的下降反映出受影响的白人婴儿发病率在下降，但受影响的非白人婴儿发病率并非如此。
