The Oklahoma Birth Defects Registry (OBDR) is a population-based surveillance system with active case ascertainment from delivery, pediatric and tertiary care hospitals as established by the Commissioner of Health under Oklahoma Statute 63 OS Section 1-550.2. Medical information related to the infant's birth defect is collected on over hundreds of conditions during the newborn period and up to three years after birth.
The OBDR functions to protect and promote the health of Oklahomans through statewide surveillance and investigation, thereby identifying opportunities to prevent, optimize early detection of birth defects, and reduce infant mortality.
The OBDR program started in 1992 with active surveillance in eight Oklahoma County hospitals. In 1994 the program was instituted statewide and active abstraction continues in all birthing hospitals. The OBDR collects diagnosis data based on ICD-CM codes and utilizes an adapted British Pediatric Association (BPA) coding system. Data on this query site is considered high quality by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
This query system of statewide registry data enables researchers, policymakers, and consumers to obtain birth prevalence for congenital anomalies. In addition, the information allows both private and public health agencies to study trends and develop prevention programs.