Congenital abnormalities and indicators of germinal mutations in the vicinity of an acrylonitrile producing factory (vol 427, pg 105, 1999)

The results of an environmental mutation and teratologic epidemiological st udy are presented which was performed in inhabitants living in the surround ing region of a factory which uses acrylonitrile in Nyergesujfalu. The endp oint of the study was congenital abnormalities in 46,326 infants born to mo thers Living in the 30 settlement of the study region within a 25 km radius of the acrylonitrile factory between 1980 and 1996. The ascertainment of c ases with congenital abnormalities was based on the dataset of the Hungaria n Congenital Abnormality Registry complemented with the review of pediatric , pathology and cytogenetic records. A particular attention was paid to the indicators of germinal mutations as sentinel anomalies, Down syndrome and unidentified multiple congenital abnormalities and the indicators of terato gens as the specific pattern of multiple congenital abnormalities. Three co ngenital abnormalities: pectus excavatum in Tata, 1990-1942 (OR with 95%Cl: 78.5, 8.4-729.6), undescended testis in Nyergesujfalu between 1980 and 198 3 (8.6, 1.4-54.3) and in Esztergom, 1981-1982 (4.2, 1.3-13.5) and clubfoot in Tata, 1980-1981 (5.5, 15-20.3) showed significant time-space clusters in the study region. There was a decrease in risk of undescended testis with increasing distance from the acrylonitrile factory. An unusual increase was found in the combination of oral cleft and cardiac septal defects in multi malformed babies in Tatabanya, 1990. The findings of the study seem to conf irm the null-hypothesis, i.e. no effect of acrylonitrile contamination for people living near to the factory. The detailed analysis of congenital abno rmalities in all settlements of a given territory may help to detect cluste rs of congenital abnormalities and their possible relation to the environme ntal hazards.