Alberta Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System.

The Alberta Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System was started in 1966 in response to the thalidomide tragedy earlier in the decade. It was one of four provincial surveillance systems on which the federal government relied for baseline statistics of congenital anomalies. The government now collects data from six provinces and one territory. The Alberta Congenital Anomaly Surveillance System originally depended on three types of notification to the Division of Vital Statistics, Department of Health, Government of Alberta: birth notice and certificates of death and stillbirth; increased sources of ascertainment have greatly improved data quality. We present the data for 1980-86 and compare the prevalence rates of selected anomalies with the rates from three other surveillance systems. Surveillance systems do not guarantee that a new teratogen will be detected, but they are extremely valuable for testing hypotheses regarding causation. At the very least they provide baseline data with which to compare any deviation or trend. For many, if not most, congenital anomalies total prevention is not possible; however, surveillance systems can be used to measure progress in prevention.