Epidemiology of Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn in the United States
G. F. Chavez, J. Mulinare and L. D. Edmonds
Birth Defects and Genetic Disease Branch, Centers for Disease Control, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Nationwide surveillance of Rh hemolytic disease of the newborn (RhHDN)
indicates that, after a substantial decline in incidence, reported rates
reached a plateau in the late 1970s. We conducted a study designed to
validate RhHDN surveillance data, to obtain corrected incidence estimates,
and to identify potential reasons for the reported plateau. We obtained
data from the Birth Defects Monitoring Program, a national surveillance
system that collects data from public and private hospitals participating
voluntarily. We asked hospitals for copies of the medical records for all
infants discharged with a code for RhHDN and for a sample of the medical
records of infants discharged with a code for other and unspecified
hemolytic disease during 1986. The estimated incidence rate of RhHDN was
10.6 per 10,000 total births, with some regional variations. Our findings
indicate that, despite the availability of an effective preventive measure,
RhHDN continues to contribute significantly to infant morbidity and
mortality in the United States.
