Offered by the National Birth Defects Prevention Network (NBDPN)

In 2005, over 12% of babies were born prematurely and the proportion has been increasing over time. Prematurity is also one of the leading causes of infant mortality. In addition, premature infants have a higher rate of birth defects than infants born at term. Thus, an enhanced understanding of prematurity and its relation to birth defects can inform the collection of accurate and useful data for birth defect surveillance programs.

The goal of the presentation is to describe the relationship between preterm birth and birth defects and the implications for birth defects surveillance.

The objectives are:

1. Describe trends in preterm birth and the contribution of prematurity to infant mortality in the US 
2. Describe possible reasons for the association between prematurity and birth defects
3. Distinguish medical complications of prematurity that are not birth defects
4. Identify birth defects that are developmentally normal in premature infants
5. Identify medical conditions in premature infants that mimic birth defects

Members of the National Birth Defects Prevention Network, employees of the birth defects programs, individuals who collect data from medical records, individuals who code birth defects data, and birth defects researchers are encouraged to attend.

All presentations during the meeting will be broadcast live via Net Conferencing. Additionally, there will be a limited question/answer period that participants will be able to join. Handouts will be made available prior to as well as during the sessions.

Continuing Education Credit for this activity is pending. Please see final announcement for specific details.

Presenter

Sonja A. Rasmussen, MD, MS, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC

Registration

Registration is free but the number of webinar connections is limited. To maximize the number of participants, we ask participants to share their webinar connection. Registration is first come first serve.

All participants are asked to register. For those sharing a webinar connection, please identify one contact person for your group to receive the connection information and for technical purposes. (There will be a place on the registration form to include this information.)

Visit the registration page.

Note: These sessions will be available on demand in the future on the NBDPN website.

Questions

Contact Miland Palmer or Cara Mai with any questions regarding the event.