Studies from Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health Further Understanding of Genomics and Genetics (Leveraging Health Insurance Claims Data to Complement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance System for Birth …): Genomics and Genetics

2025 SEP 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Data detailed on Genomics and Genetics have been presented. According to news reporting from Boston, Massachusetts, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Birth defect surveillance can help identify temporo-spatial clusters and teratogenic signals to inform subsequent investigations or interventions. In the United States, state surveillance systems exist but collect limited information, prompting a complementary use of health insurance claims data to describe national birth defect prevalence trends and investigate signals.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “The Merative MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters (MarketScan) database was used to identify liveborn infants from 2016 to 2022, with linkage to maternal health care records during pregnancy. Birth defects were identified using ICD-10-CM codes recorded in the first 3 months of life, and prevalence estimates with 95% confidence intervals were generated for birth defect categories and select birth defects. The study population included 943,855 liveborn infants. From 2016 to 2022, the prevalence increased for cardiac, central nervous system, ear, genital, urinary, musculoskeletal, and limb birth defect categories. Stable prevalence over the study period was observed for chromosomal, oral cleft, respiratory, gastrointestinal, vascular, and eye defects. For specific defects, we observed an increased prevalence of both ankyloglossia and lip-tie over the study period and a transient higher prevalence of omphalocele over 2017 and 2018. Within genital birth defects, we observed increasing prevalence trends for congenital malformations of the penis, while hypospadias and cryptorchidism remained relatively stable. Health care utilization databases can complement existing surveillance systems by generating, confirming, or refuting signals based on ecological trends or clusters.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The availability of patient information in claims databases can allow for further investigation of signals to inform birth defect etiology.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Leveraging Health Insurance Claims Data to Complement the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Surveillance System for Birth Defects. Birth Defects Research, 2025;117(9). Birth Defects Research can be contacted at: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA. (Wiley-Blackwell - http://www.wiley.com/; Birth Defects Research - http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1542-0760)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Jeremy P. Brown, Dept. of Epidemiology, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Additional authors for this research include Sharon Ng, Loreen Straub, Brian Bateman, Kathryn J. Gray, Krista F. Huybrechts and Sonia Hernandez-Diaz.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1002/bdr2.2523. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Publisher contact information for the journal Birth Defects Research is: Wiley, 111 River St, Hoboken 07030-5774, NJ, USA.

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