Descriptive epidemiology of neural tube defects, Rochester, New York, 1918-1938.

This study examines the secular distribution of births, sex, and age at death of 330 cases of anencephaly and spina bifida and 62 cases of "monstrosity" recorded on City of Rochester death certificates between 1918 and 1938. The results show that death certificates may be used as a source of data (with inherent biases) and that persons diagnosed as monstrosity had similar epidemiologic characteristics to those diagnosed as anencephalic during this period. In Rochester the rise in prevalence at birth of neural tube defects was similar to, and occurred at approximately the same years as, the rises reported in Boston and Providence.