Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 22 Mar 1995

Vol. 450 No. 8

Written Answers. - Data on Births.

Tony Gregory

Question:

65 Mr. Gregory asked the Minister for Health the number of live births for each of the last ten years; the number of stillbirths for each of the last ten years; and the number of Down's Syndrome births for each of the last ten years. [5767/95]

Minister for Health (Mr. Noonan,

Limerick East): The information requested by the Deputy in relation to live and stillbirths is set out in Table 1. The latest year for which stillbirth data are available is 1992.

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to Down's Syndrome births is not available. As part of the birth notification system, statistical information is collected on each birth and includes specification of congenital birth defects. This data cannot, however, be used to provide national incidence figures for birth defects since the information is recorded shortly after the birth and many congenital anomalies, including Down's Syndrome, may not be positively identified at that time.

Comprehensive information on the prevalence of Down's Syndrome during the past ten years is, however, available for the Eastern Health Board area through participation in a concerted action programme of the EU on the epidemiologic surveillance of congenital anomalies, EUROCAT. Approximately 20 regions throughout Europe are involved in this survey. For the Eastern Health Board, a number of sources of information are used to ensure that reporting is as complete as possible. These include the birth notification system, which is the principal source, as well as hospital discharge data, death certification, liaison with directors of community care and information from individual pathologists and paediatricians. Table 2 sets out EUROCAT data for the Eastern Health Board showing numbers of Down's Syndrome births and prevalence rates per 10,000 live and stillbirths for each year from 1984 to 1993.

Table 1

Number of Live and Stillbirths, 1984 to 1993

	Live Births	Still Births
1884	64,062	542
1985	62,388	516
1986	61,620	479
1987	58,433	416
1988	54,600	386
1989	52,018	330
1990	53,044	327
1991*	52,690	301
1992*	51,584	285
1993*	49,456	Not available

* Provisional figures.

Source: Central Statistics Office.

Table 2

Eastern Health Board

Down's Syndrome Births and rate per 10,000 live and stillbirths 1984-1993

	Down's Syndrome births	Rate per 10,000 births
1984	40	17.9
1985	52	23.5
1986	43	19.8
1987	35	16.9
1988	35	17.6
1989	29	15.3
1990	33	17.0
1991	33	16.7
1992	39	20.4
1993	42	22.8

Source: EUROCAT register Eastern Health Board.