New research center to focus on birth defects

A clinical research center for birth defects and rare diseases has been established in the city on Wednesday to study screening and diagnosis before, during and after pregnancy to prevent and control congenital birth defects.

Launched by Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Bio-X Life Science Institute, the new center under Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine will set up a diagnosis multidisciplinary platform targeting non-fatal birth defects and intervene at the earliest stage. 

Congenital heart disease, hearing disorders, Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and palate, neural tube defects, congenital hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria are the leading congenital defects in China, greatly impacting children’s health.

After the nation allowed all couples to have a second child, the risk of birth defects had risen along with the rising age of pregnant women.

About 30 million Chinese families have delivered children with birth defects with nearly 40 percent having some kind of disability.

“The earlier diagnosis the better for intervention and defect control,” said Dr Huang Hefeng, director of the new research center and president of Shanghai International Peace Maternity and Child Health Hospital. “There is one child born with a congenital defect in China every 30 seconds. Earlier intervention means a lot to the child and the family.”

There are 5 million children born with congenital defects around the world every year. In China, the incidence is 5.6 percent, which means 800,000 to 1 million children are born with defects, or 20 percent of the global cases. 

“The new center will use leading technologies of the two parties on prenatal diagnostics, in vitro fertilization and genome projects to carry out interdisciplinary research on birth defects and rare diseases for high-quality study, diagnosis and treatment," said Jiang Fan, vice director of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. "A large clinical database will also be established to provide support on disease research and clinical practice in the nation."

Jiang added: “The new center will speed up new technology innovation and transformation and bring hope for patients and their families.”