The regional disparity of congenital anomalies in Saskatchewan and its impact on the utilization of health services

Congenital anomalies (CAs) are the leading cause of infant mortality and one of the leading causes of death for young children in developed countries. As significant improvements have been seen world-wide in controlling childhood infectious disease and issues related to poor nutrition, CAs are now making a proportionally bigger impact on the health of the world’s children. In addition to the impact of CA status on the individual child and one’s family, prevalence of CAs has a significant impact on the population, as children with birth defects can cost the system a great deal of money in the provision of specialized health and education services.When conducting surveillance of five selected CAs between 1990 and 1999, Saskatchewan Health found significant regional differences in the prevalence of these CAs. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether or not there is a regional difference in all types of CAs, to assess whether or not any regional disparities also exist in the use of health care services by children with and without CAs and to determine what factors influence children’s use of health care services in the study population.This study follows a birth cohort of 17,414 children (9169 cases and 8245 controls) born between January 1, 1994 to December 31, 1998 until their 5th birthday, death or emigration out of Saskatchewan. Through graphical analysis, it was revealed that while an overall regional difference does not exist in the prevalence of CAs in Saskatchewan, there are regional differences in the prevalence of 13 of the 22 specific categories of conditions studied. One-way ANOVAs showed that children with CAs have higher numbers of physician visits (