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J H Elwood

Publications and source records attributed to J H Elwood.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1977

Evaluation of measurement of maternal plasma alpha-fetoprotein levels as a screening test for fetal neural tube defects.

Maternal plasma alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were estimated on 1844 consecutive patients at the time of their first hospital antenatal visits. There were 28 pregnancies with an 'abnormal' outcome: 19 patients had twins, 3 had an anencephalic fetus, and 6 a fetus with a spina bifida (4 of these had an open neural tube defect). Evaluation of maternal plasma AFP levels as a screening test for neural tube defects at 15 to 19 weeks gestation indicated a sensitivity of 50% taking the 'cut-off' point as the 95th centile of the plasma AFP levels in pregnancy with a normal outcome.

Anencephaly↗
PubMed1976

Major central nervous system malformations notified in Northern Ireland, 1969 to 1973.

In Northern Ireland, during the years 1969 to 1973, there were 485 notifications of anencephalus, 525 of spina bifida and 328 of hydrocephalus in a population of 157,725 (live and still) births. The data were based on the voluntary notification system for congenital malformations which has been operating in Northern Ireland and in England and Wales sine 1964. The malformation rates per 1000 (live and still) births were 3-1 for anencephalus, 3-3 for spina bifida and 2-1 for hydrocephalus. Secular trends in these data indicate a decrease in the incidence of all three major central nervous system malformations, but this is significant only in relation to anencephalus. Spina bifida was more common in female births than in male births, and 79 per cent of affected infants were liveborn. Indirect evidence suggests that some 40 per cent of the total number of live and stillborn infants having spina bifida at birth will survive to one year of age.

Anencephaly↗