[Monitoring of pregnancies exposed to drugs in France: the experience of the registries of congenital malformations].

Registries of congenital malformations were implemented in many industrialized countries following the drama of thalidomide. In 2013, four French registries of congenital malformations in France provide the systematic epidemiological surveillance of birth defects. All are part of international networks of registries, especially European surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT). If the development of prevention actions including prenatal diagnosis has gradually led the registries to play a key role of assessment on the impact of public health policies, one of the major roles of registries of congenital malformations remains early detection of clusters of malformations secondary to teratogenic effects.