Tinker Sarah C, Carmichael Suzan L, Anderka Marlene, Browne Marilyn L, Caspers Conway Kristin M, Meyer Robert E, Nembhard Wendy N, Olney Richard S, Reefhuis Jennita
National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Division of Neonatal and Developmental Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University, Stanford, California.
Birth Defects Res A Clin Mol Teratol. 2015 Aug;103(8):733-40. doi: 10.1002/bdra.23373. Epub 2015 Apr 6.
The Birth Defects Study To Evaluate Pregnancy exposureS (BD-STEPS) is a population-based, multi-Center case-control study of modifiable risk factors for selected birth defects in the United States. BD-STEPS is the second major research effort of the Centers for Birth Defects Research and Prevention, which extends and expands the initial research effort, the National Birth Defects Prevention Study (NBDPS).
BD-STEPS focuses on 17 categories of structural birth defects selected based on severity, prevalence, consistent ascertainment, and previous findings that warrant additional research. Cases are identified through existing birth defects surveillance programs; controls are from vital records or birth hospital logs from the same catchment area. BD-STEPS uses a standardized computer-assisted telephone interview to collect information from case and control mothers on topics including demographics, health conditions, and medication use. Following the maternal interview, selected Centers request permission to sample residual newborn screening blood spots from state repositories for genetic analyses. New components planned for BD-STEPS include linkages with external datasets and use of online questionnaires to collect in-depth information on selected exposures.
BD-STEPS extends NBDPS by continuing to collect data on many exposures that were assessed in NBDPS, allowing data from both studies to be combined and providing an unprecedented sample size to analyze rare exposures. BD-STEPS expands upon NBDPS by collecting more detailed information on existing exposures as well as new exposures.
The goal of BD-STEPS is to provide women and healthcare providers with information they need to make decisions to promote the healthiest pregnancy possible.
出生缺陷研究以评估孕期暴露情况（BD-STEPS）是一项基于人群的多中心病例对照研究，旨在探究美国特定出生缺陷的可改变风险因素。BD-STEPS是出生缺陷研究与预防中心的第二项重大研究工作，它扩展并延伸了最初的研究工作——国家出生缺陷预防研究（NBDPS）。
BD-STEPS聚焦于17类结构性出生缺陷，这些缺陷是根据严重程度、患病率、一致的确诊情况以及先前需要进一步研究的结果来选定的。病例通过现有的出生缺陷监测项目进行识别；对照则来自同一集水区的人口动态记录或出生医院日志。BD-STEPS使用标准化的计算机辅助电话访谈，从病例和对照母亲那里收集有关人口统计学、健康状况和药物使用等主题的信息。在对母亲进行访谈之后，选定的中心会请求从州储存库中抽取残留的新生儿筛查血斑样本进行基因分析。BD-STEPS计划新增的内容包括与外部数据集建立联系，以及使用在线问卷来收集有关选定暴露的深入信息。
BD-STEPS通过继续收集NBDPS中评估的许多暴露数据，对NBDPS进行了扩展，使得两项研究的数据能够合并，并提供了前所未有的样本量来分析罕见暴露。BD-STEPS通过收集有关现有暴露以及新暴露的更详细信息，对NBDPS进行了拓展。
BD-STEPS的目标是为女性和医疗保健提供者提供他们做出决策所需的信息，以促进尽可能健康的孕期。
