© 2005 American Public Health Association DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.067181
Coleen A. Boyle and José F. Cordero are with the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga. Correspondence: Request for reprints should be sent to Coleen Boyle, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS-E86, Atlanta, GA 30333 (e-mail: cboyle@cdc.gov).
The 20th century witnessed great advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of birth defects and developmental disabilities and in the quality of life and life expectancy in people living with disabilities. Through newborn screening, early recognition and treatment of phenyl-ketonuria and other metabolic disorders has led to the prevention of mental retardation.1 The development of new surgical techniques and clinical management of selected birth defects, such as congenital heart disease, spina bifida, and Down syndrome, has resulted in marked increases in survival of children and adults with these conditions.2,3 Similarly, people living with disabilities have experienced improvements in life
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