Congenital anomaly surveillance in England and Wales.

The National Congenital Anomaly System (NCAS) was set up in 1964, following the thalidomide epidemic, as a monitoring system designed to detect changes in the frequency of reporting of malformations. Its original aim was to detect anomalies reported within 7 days of birth. The NCAS is voluntary at all stages and covers all live- and stillbirths. It has two tiers; a 'passive system' receiving congenital anomaly notifications through a standard paper notification form, known as the SD56, and the congenital anomaly registers that send notifications electronically. Congenital anomalies are classified using the International Classification of Diseases codes and 10 monitoring groups. The Office for National Statistics performs a statistical analysis on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis, using the cumulative sum technique, which is the basis upon which surveillance alerts are raised within the system. The NCAS is now an open database where congenital anomalies can be notified whenever they are detected. The aim of this paper is to describe the current operation and uses of the NCAS based on guidelines for the evaluation of public health surveillance systems published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.