Abstract

One hundred and thirty nine patients suffering from encephalomeningocoele and myelomeningocoele who had attended the neurosurgical outpatients department of the Rangoon People's Hospital were interviewed. A predominance of frontal encephalomeningocoele was found; a low proportion of these patients had been conceived in the cold season and an increased interval separated the index patients from the previous full term pregnancy of their mothers; no first degree relatives were affected. It is suggested that an environmental factor is implicated in the developmental aetiology.