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Aim: Our aim was to describe the epidemiology of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS‐C) in the Republic of Ireland, in the context of all cases of COVID‐19 in children, during the first year of the SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic. Methods: Cases of MIS‐C were identified by prospective surveillance in Irish hospitals from April 2020 to April 2021. Paediatric COVID‐19 cases and outbreaks in schools or childcare facilities were notified to and routinely investigated by Public Health. Univariate and bivariate analyses were carried out in Excel, Stata and JMP statistical package. Results: Fifty‐four MIS‐C cases (median age 7.58 years; males 57%) were identified over the study period. MIS‐C incidence was higher in certain ethnicities ('black' 21.3/100,000 [95% CI 4.3–38.4]; and 'Irish Traveller' 14.7/100,000 [95% CI −5.7‐35.1]) than those of 'white' ethnicity (3.4 /100,000). MIS‐C cases occurred in three temporal clusters, which followed three distinct waves of community COVID‐19 infection, irrespective of school closures. Formal contact tracing identified an epidemiological link with a COVID‐19‐infected family member in the majority of MIS‐C cases (77%). In contrast, investigation of COVID‐19 school outbreaks demonstrated no epidemiological link with MIS‐C cases during the study period. Conclusion: Efforts at controlling SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission in the community may be a more effective means to reduce MIS‐C incidence than school closures. Establishing a mandatory reporting structure for MIS‐C will help delineate the role of risk factors such as ethnicity and obesity and the effect of vaccination on MIS‐C incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public health organisations use public health indicators to guide health policy. Joint analysis of multiple public health indicators can provide a more comprehensive understanding of what they are intended to evaluate.Objective: To analyse variaitons in the prevalence of congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality attributable to termination of pregnancy for foetal anomaly (TOPFA) and prenatal diagnosis of congenital anomaly prevalence.Methods: We included 55 363 cases of congenital anomalies notified to 18 EUROCAT registers in 10 countries during 2008-12. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) representing the risk of congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality according to TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis prevalence were estimated using multilevel Poisson regression with country as a random effect. Between-country variation in congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality was measured using random effects and compared between the null and adjusted models to estimate the percentage of variation in congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality accounted for by TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis.Results: The risk of congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality decreased as TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis prevalence increased (IRR 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72, 0.86; and IRR 0.88, 95% CI 0.79, 0.97). Modelling TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis together, the association between congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality and TOPFA prevalence became stronger (RR 0.70, 95% CI 0.61, 0.81). The prevalence of TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis accounted for 75.5% and 37.7% of the between-country variation in perinatal mortality, respectively.Conclusion: We demonstrated an approach for analysing inter-linked public health indicators. In this example, as TOPFA and prenatal diagnosis of congenital anomaly prevalence decreased, the risk of congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality increased. Much of the between-country variation in congenital anomaly-related perinatal mortality was accounted for by TOPFA, with a smaller proportion accounted for by prenatal diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amniotic band syndrome (ABS) and limb body wall complex (LBWC) have an overlapping phenotype of multiple congenital anomalies and their etiology is unknown. We aimed to determine the prevalence of ABS and LBWC in Europe from 1980 to 2019 and to describe the spectrum of congenital anomalies. In addition, we investigated maternal age and multiple birth as possible risk factors for the occurrence of ABS and LBWC. We used data from the European surveillance of congenital anomalies (EUROCAT) network including data from 30 registries over 1980-2019. We included all pregnancy outcomes, including live births, stillbirths, and terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies. ABS and LBWC cases were extracted from the central EUROCAT database using coding information responses from the registries. In total, 866 ABS cases and 451 LBWC cases were included in this study. The mean prevalence was 0.53/10,000 births for ABS and 0.34/10,000 births for LBWC during the 40 years. Prevalence of both ABS and LBWC was lower in the 1980s and higher in the United Kingdom. Limb anomalies and neural tube defects were commonly seen in ABS, whereas in LBWC abdominal and thoracic wall defects and limb anomalies were most prevalent. Twinning was confirmed as a risk factor for both ABS and LBWC. This study includes the largest cohort of ABS and LBWC cases ever reported over a large time period using standardized EUROCAT data. Prevalence, clinical characteristics, and the phenotypic spectrum are described, and twinning is confirmed as a risk factor., (© 2022 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)