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It's a New Day in Public Health.

The Florida Department of Health works to protect, promote, and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county, and community efforts.

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DATA AND RESEARCH

The Florida Birth Defects Registry (FBDR) was established in 1999 as a passive statewide population-based birth defects surveillance system to protect and promote the health of people in Florida by detecting, investigating, and preventing birth defects. The legal authority to conduct birth defects surveillance is established in Section 381.0031(1,2) Florida Statutes, list of reportable disease/conditions, and is further defined in Florida Administrative Code 64D-3.035:Congenital Anomaly Reporting.

The FBDR's case criteria are:

  • the mother is a Florida resident;
  • the infant is diagnosed, in the first year of life, with one or more structural, genetic, or other specified birth outcome that can adversely affect an infant's health and development, primarily ICD9-CM codes in the 740-759.9 code range.
  • the date of delivery is on or after January 1, 1998.

The FBDR's passive case ascertainment methodology involves the linkage of multiple secondary "source" datasets including Florida Division of Public Health Statistics and Performance Management birth records, the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) hospital inpatient and ambulatory discharge databases.


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Birth Defects

Contact the Florida Birth Defects Registry (FBDR)

  •  850-245-4444
  •  
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    Mailing Address

    Division of Community Health Promotion - Public Health Research 

    4052 Bald Cypress Way  

    Tallahassee, FL 32399 

  • Every 4.5 minutes, a baby is born with a birth defect.Major birth defects are conditions present at birth that cause structural changes in one or more parts of the body. They can have a serious, adverse effect on health, development, or functional ability. 
  • In the U.S., one in 33 babies is born with a birth defect affecting about 120,000 babies each year.
  • A woman can take steps to increase her own chance of having a baby with the best health possible. Not all birth defects can be prevented.
  • Birth defects are one of the leading causes of death in children less than one year of age - causing one in every five deaths.
  • Effects of birth defects can range from mild to severe.
  • More children and youth born with a disability are living longer with improved medical treatments enabling the management of long-term health problems. A lifecourse approach allows planning across the lifespan to explore determinants of health and provide individuals, their families, and communities with guidelines to eliminate many of the barriers facing people with disabilities today.
  • Causes of most birth defects are unknown.

The Florida Birth Defects Registry (FBDR) is a statewide, population-based surveillance system that has identified birth defects in children born in Florida since 1999. The FBDR is operated by the Florida Department of Health, Division of Community Health Promotion, Public Health Research.

Florida Birth Defects Registry