European Registry for the Epidemiological Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies

Eurocat is a European registry for the epidemiological surveillance of congenital anomalies, coordinating a network of 43 registries in 23 European countries. Eurocat is also a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for the surveillance of these conditions.

Eurocat was established in 1979 with the mandate to set up registries of congenital malformations in each country of the European Community.

Eurocat’s objectives are as follows:

• to provide essential epidemiological data on congenital anomalies in Europe,

• to facilitate the early identification of new teratogenic exposures:

• to contribute to the evaluation of the effectiveness of primary prevention,

• to assess the impact of advances in prenatal screening,

• to serve as an information and resource center for healthcare professionals, the public, and policymakers on clusters of cases, exposures, risk factors for birth defects, and other topics of interest,

• organize a collaborative network and infrastructure to enable research on the causes and prevention of congenital anomalies, as well as the treatment and care of affected children,

• serve as a catalyst for the establishment of registries across Europe that collect comparable data.

French data available on the Eurocat website

French registries submit data on recorded cases of congenital anomalies to Eurocat. This data is accessible via the Eurocat website in predefined tables showing prevalence by country or by registry. It is also possible to run queries by registry, by country, or across all registries, for one or more years, and for each specific anomaly. Eurocat also provides other public health indicators related to congenital anomalies, such as the proportion of anomalies detected prenatally. Information on prevention and risk factors derived from the registries can also be found on the Eurocat website.