PhD student: Bermet Amirova
Title: Social inequalities in congenital anomalies: prenatal screening, pregnancy outcomes, mortality and healthcare pathways
Supervisors: Jennifer Zitlin, Isabelle Monier
Doctoral school: École Doctorale Pierre Louis de Santé Publique, ED 393
Promotion: 2026
Funding: EHESP (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Santé Publique)
Thesis abstract:
Congenital anomalies affect about 3% of births and account for 20-30% of infant deaths. In France, infant mortality has stagnated since 2005 and has risen since 2012, a trend that may partly reflect widening social health inequalities. Despite universal health coverage and an active prenatal screening policy in France, socioeconomic status may influence access to prenatal diagnosis, parental decisions (including medical termination of pregnancy), and the survival of affected children. This thesis draws on a novel linkage between the Paris congenital anomalies registry (remaPAR) and the French National Health Data System (SNDS). It aims to: (1) examine the influence of individual- and area-level socioeconomic status on access to prenatal screening and on pregnancy outcomes (termination, stillbirth, live birth); (2) describe the causes and circumstances of infant deaths among children with congenital anomalies according to maternal socioeconomic status; and (3) assess the influence of socioeconomic status on healthcare use and care pathways of liveborn children with congenital anomalies.
