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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Hirschsprung disease (HSCR) is a congenital defect of the enteric abstract
nervous system characterized by a lack of ganglion cells in the distal hindgut. The aim of
this study was to assess the birth prevalence, perinatal characteristics, and maternal risk
factors in HSCR patients in Sweden.
METHODS: This was a nationwide, population-based, case-control study of all children born
in Sweden between 1982 and 2012 and registered in the Swedish Medical Birth Register.
Cases were identified in the Swedish National Patient Register and data on potential
maternal risk factors and patient characteristics were collected from the Swedish National
Patient Register and the Swedish Medical Birth Register. Five age- and sex-matched controls
were randomly selected for each case. The association between studied risk factors and
HSCR was analyzed using conditional logistic regression to calculate the odds ratio (OR)
and 95% confidence interval (CI).
RESULTS: The study population comprised 600 HSCR cases and 3000 controls with a male-
to-female ratio of 3.7:1. The birth prevalence of HSCR was 1.91/10 000. Maternal obesity
was associated with an increased risk for the child to have HSCR (OR 1.74; CI 1.25–2.44).
Children with HSCR were born at an earlier gestational age (OR 1.60; CI 1.18–2.17) than
control children. Associated malformations were identified in 34.5% of the cases.
CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the Swedish birth prevalence of HSCR was 1.91/10 000.
Children with HSCR disease were born at a lower gestational age than controls. Maternal
obesity may increase the risk for the child to have HSCR.
Departments of aWomen’s and Children’s Health and cLearning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME),
Unit for Medical Statistics, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; and bDivision of Pediatric Surgery, Astrid
WHAT’S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Hirschsprung
Lindgren Children’s Hospital and dCenter of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, disease (HSCR) is a multifactorial disease. The
Sweden incidence varies from 1 per 2000 to 1 per 12 000.
Being firstborn may decrease the risk of having the
Dr Löf Granström conceptualized and designed the study, analyzed the data, drafted the article,
disease.
and revised the manuscript; Dr Svenningsson and Ms Hagel carried out the initial analyses and
critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; Drs Oddsberg and Nordenskjöld conceptualized WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS: The incidence of HSCR is
and designed the study, acquired the data, and critically reviewed and revised the manuscript; 1.91 per 10 000 live newborns in Sweden. Maternal
Dr Wester conceptualized and designed the study, analyzed the data, and critically reviewed and obesity increases the risk for having a child with
revised the manuscript; and all authors approved the final manuscript as submitted.
HSCR, and there is increased risk for children with
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2015-4608 HSCR to be born prematurely.
Accepted for publication Apr 20, 2016
Address correspondence to Anna Löf Granström, MD, Division of Pediatric Surgery, Astrid
Lindgren Children’s Hospital, Q3:03, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, SE-17176 Stockholm.
E-mail: anna.lof@ki.ses To cite: Löf Granström A, Svenningsson A, Hagel E, et al.
PEDIATRICS (ISSN Numbers: Print, 0031-4005; Online, 1098-4275). Maternal Risk Factors and Perinatal Characteristics for
Hirschsprung Disease. Pediatrics. 2016;138(1):e20154608
Congenital Malformations
Congenital malformations and
chromosomal abnormalities
comprised the following diagnoses
in either the NPR or the MBR: ICD-8:
750.00-759.99; ICD-9: 740-759×;
ICD-10: Q00-Q99. The following
diagnoses were excluded: Meckel
diverticulum (751, 751A, Q430),
undescended testis (752.1, 752F,
FIGURE 1 Q531-532, Q539), and urachus
Flowchart of the study.
remnant (753H, Q644) due to a
diagnostic bias. The malformations
Definition and Categorization of Maternal BMI was registered at the were categorized into the following
Study Variables first antenatal care clinic visit. BMI categories: gastrointestinal,
Birth Prevalence was categorized into 4 groups: <18.5 cardiovascular, musculoskeletal,
(underweight), 18.5 to 24.9 (normal urogenital, ophthalmic, central
The birth prevalence of HSCR was
weight), 25.0 to 29.9 (overweight), nervous system, and other
assessed by dividing the number of
and ≥30.0 (obese) according to malformations. The gastrointestinal
HSCR cases that met the inclusion
the World Health Organization malformations were further
criteria by the number of live
classification.14 analyzed, and cases with only 1
births in Sweden in 1987–2012,
according to the Swedish National The exposure data on maternal diagnosis from an outpatient visit
Board of Health and Welfare. The diseases were based on occurrences or 1 admission to a hospital without
birth prevalence was also assessed of the following ICD codes: ICD-8: pediatric surgery were excluded.
separately for males and females. We 242, 244, 245, 250, 340.99, 563, Data on newborns with Down
chose the study period from 1987 00-563,10; ICD-9: 242, 244, 245, 250, syndrome during 1999–2012 were
instead of 1982 because the NPR 340A-341×, 555A-X, 556; ICD-10: collected from the Swedish National
became national in 1987. E03, E05, E06, E10, E11, E12, E13, Board of Health and Welfare to
E89, G35.9, K50-51. assess the cumulative incidence of
Maternal Risk Factors HSCR among patients with Down
Exposure data on maternal age, Perinatal Characteristics syndrome.
maternal smoking, parity, and Exposure data on delivery mode,
maternal BMI were obtained from the gestational age, birth weight, and Statistical Analysis
MBR. Maternal age was categorized neonatal mortality were obtained The associations between HSCR
into 5 groups: <20 years, 20 to 24 from the MBR. Delivery mode was and perinatal characteristics were
years, 25 to 29 years, 30 to 35 years, categorized concerning caesarean examined by using univariable
and >35 years. Data on maternal and vaginal delivery. Gestational logistic regression models with
smoking were defined as smoking age was categorized into 2 groups: preterm delivery, SGA, and mode
at the time of registration at the <37 gestational weeks (preterm) of delivery as the outcomes and
antenatal care clinic at gestational and ≥37 gestational weeks (term). HSCR as an explanatory variable,
weeks 10 to 12 and were categorized Birth weight for gestational age was presented with odds ratio (OR)
into nonsmoker, <10 cigarettes categorized into 2 groups according estimates and 95% confidence
daily, and ≥10 cigarettes daily. Birth to Marsál et al: small for gestational intervals (CIs). Possible risk factors
order was categorized into 3 groups; age (SGA) or not, based on growth for HSCR (maternal age, maternal
first, second, and third or greater. curves.15 For the analysis of weight BMI, maternal smoking, and parity)
Maternal BMI was measured in for gestational age (SGA), twins were were analyzed by using a conditional
kg/m2 and calculated from the periods excluded. Data on preeclampsia were logistic regression procedure (clogit
1982 to 1989 and 1992 onward collected from both the MBR and in R) stratifying over the matched
because of changes in the register. the NPR, based on the following ICD pairs. The results were presented
Ethics
The Regional Ethics Review Board
at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm,
approved the study.
RESULTS
Birth Prevalence
FIGURE 2
The birth prevalence of HSCR in Total birth incidence and male/female birth incidence. The middle lines are a sliding estimate of
Sweden was 1.91 in 10 000 births average incidence.
between 1987 and 2012. The birth
prevalence by sex and the total birth but could instead be associated with DISCUSSION
prevalence over the years are shown HSCR. The gestational age of cases
in Fig 2. This is the first population-based
and controls is shown in Fig 3. The
case-control study including 600
odds of HSCR were significantly
Maternal Risk Factors cases of HSCR. The study shows that
greater in preterm compared with
the birth prevalence of HSCR was 1
The maternal risk factors are term deliveries in girls (OR 2.69,
in 5000 in Sweden between 1987
summarized in Table 1, and the most 95% CI: 1.38–5.26) and in boys (OR:
and 2012. We found an association
prominent finding was the increased 1.41, 95% CI: 1.00–1.99). The odds
between HSCR in the child and
risk for obese females to have of HSCR for SGA were as follows:
maternal obesity during the first
children with HSCR. There appears girls, OR 1.59 (95% CI: 0.51–4.97);
trimester. Also mothers pregnant
to be a linear increase over BMI boys, OR 1.22 (95% CI: 0.62–2.37).
with their third child or greater
categories; the ORs are not significant Preeclampsia occurred as frequently
showed an increased risk of having
for underweight and overweight, but in mothers of cases as in those of
a child with HSCR, and patients with
this is evident from the effect sizes. controls (24 and 95, respectively). HSCR tended to be born at a lower
The same gradient effect is shown
gestational age than healthy control
in male cases. An analysis using a
Congenital Malformations children.
multivariate model did not change
the results. A subanalysis of infant Sweden has well-recognized
sex is shown in Table 2. Among the HSCR cases, 207 (34.5%) population-based medical registers
individuals had at least 1 other that make it possible to perform
Perinatal Characteristics congenital malformation, including powerful studies like this one. All
Of the 600 HSCR cases, 466 were chromosomal anomalies. Excluding data are prospectively collected,
boys, resulting in a male-to-female the cases with only chromosomal thus avoiding the risk for recall
ratio of 3.7:1. There were 19 anomalies, 191 of the cases had bias. The controls were randomly
discordant twins among the cases associated malformations (Fig 4). selected from the study base, thereby
and 77 among the controls (OR 1.24, Altogether, 59 (9.8%) of the cases decreasing the risk of selection bias.
95% CI 0.75–2.07). One of the cases had Down syndrome and 18 (3%) Our study assesses a large number
did not survive the first month of life, had other chromosomal anomalies. of HSCR cases with cross-linked
and 6 controls died (OR 0.83, 95% Between 1999 and 2012, 2203 data on exposures with the same
0.10–6.92). Data on gestational age, children with Down syndrome were definition in cases as in controls.
birth weight, and delivery mode are born in Sweden. Of these, 25 also had This methodology decreases the risk
summarized in Table 3. The data HSCR, which gives a birth prevalence of differential misclassification of
presented are not causative factors of 1.1%. exposure. However, the study also
has limitations because there was TABLE 2 Subanalysis for Child Sex, Unadjusted ORs With 95% CIs
no histopathology register available Girls Boys
for linkage to confirm the HSCR
Cases (n = 134) Cases (n = 466)
diagnosis. This means that it was
Controls (n = 670) Controls (n = 2330)
necessary to base the diagnosis on
the ICD code, which was the reason Maternal age, y
<20 — 0.96 (0.46–2.00)
for using additional inclusion criteria
20–24 — 1.00 (0.742–1.34)
to increase the specificity of the 25–29 1 1
study. Among the excluded cases, we 30–34 — 0.97 (0.75–1.26)
found that the majority had only been ≥35 — 1.20 (0.90–1.60)
admitted once during the neonatal Maternal smoking (cigarettes daily)
None 1 1
period without having surgery,
1–9 1.40 (0.75–2.63) 1.05 (0.75–1.48)
or admitted to a hospital without ≥10 0.78 (0.27–2.28) 0.59 (0.33–1.04)
pediatric surgery services. Another Missing data 66 188
possible limitation is the risk for type Parity
II errors due to the limited sample 1 1 1
2 1.26 (0.83–1.91) 0.99 (0.78–1.25)
size. Data on HSCR that occurred
≥3 1.05 (0.64–1.72) 1.30 (1.01–1.68)a
in stillbirth or termination for Maternal BMI
fetal anomaly were not possible to Underweight <18.5 0.70 (0.20–2.47) 0.57 (0.24–1.35)
retrieve from the registers and may Normal wt 18.5–24.9 1 1
be a limitation of the study. Overweight 25.0–29.9 0.80 (0.46–1.38) 1.40 (1.05–1.85)a
Obese ≥30.0 1.03 (0.50–2.15) 2.03 (1.39–2.96)a
Our study showed that 1.91 of 10 000 Missing data 186 636
a
or 1 in 5000 live births involved Statistical significance.
HSCR in Sweden from 1987 to 2012.
The birth prevalence did not change although this varies from 1 in 2000 to at risk for HSCR, which includes the
significantly over the study period. 1 in 12 000 live births.1 To calculate number of conceptions that reach
Earlier studies have reported an the incidence, the population at risk the gestational age when the defect
incidence of HSCR of 1 in 5000, is needed. Because the population occurs, is unknown, it is impossible
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