Smith等最近提出发热是神经管缺损(NTD)的原因。他们访问了在过去十年中,分娩过无脑儿或脊柱裂婴儿的母亲,特别了解在孕期发生发热疾病的时间及性质,或使用蒸汽浴情况。他们解释体温过高为体温>38.9℃或洗非常热的蒸汽浴达15分钟,并对分娩NTD婴儿与正常婴儿的母亲在妊娠14～28天神经管闭合的临界期发热频率进行了对照比较,63例中7例(11%)无脑儿妊娠和43例中3例(7%)脊柱裂妊娠是发过热(有发热标志)的,而127例妊娠对照组无1例有过发热。因而作者假定发热在人类NTD中有着病因学的作用。 Leck在1978年曾提出一种选择性回忆偏见是NTD患儿母亲与正常对照组的母亲 Smith and others recently suggested that fever is the cause of neural tube defects (NTDs). They interviewed mothers who had given birthless babies or spina bifida in the past decade, especially about the timing and nature of febrile illness during pregnancy, or the use of steam baths. They explained hyperthermia as a body temperature> 38.9 ° C or a very hot steam bath for 15 minutes and compared the frequency of critical stages of neural tube closure in mothers of NTD infants with normal infants at 14-28 days gestation, 63 In 7 cases (11%) of the children with no brain pregnancy and in 3 of 43 (7%) cases of spina bifida pregnancy, the pregnancy was overheated (with signs of fever) and none of the 127 pregnant controls had fever. Thus the authors hypothesize that fever has a etiological role in human NTD. Leck proposed in 1978 a selective recall bias is the mother of NTD children and normal control group mothers