Hypospadias in British Columbia.

The British Columbia Health Surveillance Registry (BCHSR) records the frequency, incidence, and distribution of congenital malformations and other disabilities among individuals within the province using multiple sources of ascertainment. The most important sources of ascertainment for this study were Physician's Notice of Birth forms and discharge diagnosis from all hospitals in the province on children 7 years old or younger. These data were used to determine the minimal incidence of hypospadias with and without other congenital anomalies in order to provide information useful in management and to establish baseline prevalence data on a common genital malformation. In addition, incidence over time was evaluated. The study found the minimal incidence of hypospadias in British Columbia to be 4.44 per 1,000 male live births (1,314 cases out of 295,656 male live births) during 1966-1981. This is in the previously reported range of the incidence of hypospadias (2-8.2 per 1,000 male live births). Hypospadias was the only malformation in almost 80% of all individuals identified. The most frequent additional anomalies involved the genital and inguinal regions (7.2% of all cases or 36% of cases with additional anomalies). Cardiac lesions were the next most common anomalies, representing 14% of those cases with additional anomalies. Limb malformations and gastrointestinal anomalies were also quite common, representing 12.1% and 9.1% of cases of hypospadias with additional anomalies, respectively. Thus, 1 in 225 males born in British Columbia has some degree of hypospadias, and 20% of these infants also have at least one other anomaly.