Roux Franck-Emmanuel, Oucheng Ngiep, Lauwers-Cances Valérie, Draper Louisa, Cristini Christelle, Collogly Jim, Lauwers Frédéric
INSERM 825 et Service de Neurochirurgie, Hôpital Purpan, F-31059 Toulouse, France.
J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2009 Dec;4(6):553-6. doi: 10.3171/2009.7.PEDS08403.
Frontoethmoidal meningoencephalocele (fMEC) is relatively common in many Southeast Asian countries, with devastating aesthetic and social consequences for affected children. No cause has been detected to date. Among other factors, the authors of this paper attempt to identify a statistically significant difference in the spread of fMEC births throughout the year compared with other births. This seasonal variation in the incidence of fMEC births may provide clues to the causes of this condition.
From a group of 175 children with fMEC who underwent surgery at the authors' humanitarian institution (Children's Surgical Centre) in Phnom Penh between 2004 and 2008, 86 children were studied. These children were born at full term and had an accurately recorded date of birth. The birth dates of this fMEC group were compared with a group of > 15,000 other live births at one of the main maternity units in Phnom Penh in 2005 and 2006.
Seasonal variation in incidence of fMEC by month of birth was highly statistically significant (p < 0.001), with the peak of births occurring in the dry season (between March and May). This is in contrast to the control group, in which there was an equal distribution of births throughout the year. More than 85% of the parents of children with fMEC who the authors treated were farmers, but this figure reflects the composition of the Cambodian population.
Uneven spread in the incidence of fMEC births throughout the year suggests that a seasonal factor during the wet season may be suspected in the pathogenesis of fMEC in Cambodia.
额筛部脑膜脑膨出（fMEC）在许多东南亚国家相对常见，对患病儿童造成严重的美学和社会影响。迄今为止尚未发现病因。在其他因素中，本文作者试图确定fMEC患儿全年出生分布与其他出生情况相比是否存在统计学上的显著差异。fMEC患儿出生发病率的这种季节性变化可能为该病的病因提供线索。
在2004年至2008年期间，于金边作者所在的人道主义机构（儿童外科中心）接受手术的175例fMEC患儿中，选取86例进行研究。这些患儿为足月出生，出生日期记录准确。将该fMEC组患儿的出生日期与2005年和2006年金边一家主要产科单位的15000多例其他活产儿的出生日期进行比较。
按出生月份划分，fMEC发病率的季节性变化具有高度统计学意义（p < 0.001），出生高峰出现在旱季（3月至5月之间）。这与对照组不同，对照组全年出生分布均匀。作者治疗的fMEC患儿中，超过85%的父母是农民，但这一数字反映的是柬埔寨人口的构成情况。
fMEC患儿出生发病率全年分布不均，提示柬埔寨fMEC发病机制中可能存在雨季的季节性因素。
