Original articleProspective Study of Infantile Hemangiomas: Demographic, Prenatal, and Perinatal Characteristics
Section snippets
Study Design
A prospective study of patients with infantile hemangiomas was initiated in September 2002 by members of the Hemangioma Investigator Group (HIG) at 7 U.S. academic pediatric dermatology clinics. One additional site in Spain enrolled patients, but data from that site was not used in the analysis of demographic features because U.S. National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) birth data was used for comparison. The institutional review board at each participating institution approved the study
Group Characteristics
A total of 1058 U.S. patients were enrolled in a 1-year period. Most (68%) of our patients were younger than 1 year. Ninety percent of patients were 2 years or younger. A total of 750 patients (71%) were female, and 308 patients (29%) were male. White, non-Hispanic patients comprised 68.9% of patients. African-American and Hispanic patients comprised 2.8% and 14.4% of patients, respectively. Data on gestational age were available on 1047 patients, 214 (20.4%) of whom were born prematurely
Discussion
Identifying patient characteristics associated with the development of a birth defect or “birthmark” has traditionally been performed by using formal birth defect registries. Birth defect registries are tools used to identify demographic, prenatal, and perinatal characteristics and potential risk factors that can have both clinical and scientific implications. Unfortunately, hemangiomas, though considered a type of “birthmark” have not been included in such registries because their presence at
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Cited by (0)
Supported by the Dermatology Foundation and American Skin Association.