One in 33 babies in the United States are born with birth defects. But a new study of the centers for disease control and prevention is increasing awareness of the ways to reduce this risk.
The study points to five risk factors that public health officials, and, in some cases, women themselves can do something about it: obesity, diabetes, exposure to smoking, food insecurity and low levels of folate (an essential vitamin that helps the body produce cells).
According to the study, 66% of women aged 12 to 49 have at least one of these risk factors, and 10% have three or more. The findings of the CDC, published on Tuesday at the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, are based on responses of 5,374 women who completed the National Health and Nutrition Exam Survey of the Agency from 2007 to 2020.
“We cannot underline enough how important it is to raise awareness about these risk factors and encourage women to talk to their doctors if they have any concerns or question before getting pregnant,” said Arick Wang, a health scientist at the CDC and main author of the new study, by email.
He added that “the risks can be reduced through steps such as obtaining 400 recommended micrograms (MCG) of healthy folic acid, healthy diet and exercise, and handling blood sugar.”
Birth defects are the main cause of death in babies, according to CDC data. Risks often begin before some women know they are pregnant. Although the causes of birth defects are largely a mystery, scientists generally recognize that some combination of genetic, environment and lifestyle factors is responsible.
“This should be a call of attention to all,” said Dr. Michael Warren, Medical and Health Director of March of Dimes, a non -profit research and defense group focused on maternal and child health.
“We want to make sure that people have access to nutritious foods,” said Warren, who was not involved in the study. “We want to make sure that people have safe places to be physically active.”
People with food insecurity can be deficient in nutrients that are vital so that the organs of a fetus develop properly, including folate. For example, the low concentrations of folding in the blood are associated with neural tube defects: brain defects or the spine that develop in the first month of pregnancy. Doctors recommend that pregnant or try to get pregnant take folic acid, the synthetic version of the folate.
Since 1998, food and medication administration has required that enriched cereal grain products are strengthened with folic acid. Wang, the CDC scientist, said in a press release that politics probably prevents more than 1,300 babies from being born without neural tube defects.
“The vast majority of birth defects that occur, we still don’t know why they occur,” said Nembhard. “Even when women do everything right: they do not smoke, do not drink during pregnancy, monitor caffeine intake, exercise, you can still have a result that is not what you wanted.”
Warren, who until June served as an associate administrator of the Maternal and Children’s Office of the HHS, said many women may not be aware that conditions such as obesity and food insecurity are also risk factors.
Obesity, which affected approximately one third of the women surveyed, was the most common modifiable risk factor in the study of CDCs. Scientists are not exactly clear why it is linked to birth defects, but they suspect that it has something to do with the changes in the metabolism of a woman, such as the way in which her body manages insulin and glucose, which can lead to abnormal development in the fetus.
“When [our] The cells are growing and forming organs, we really trust everything to work as it should. And when he interrupts those processes, things can go wrong, ”said Warren.
The high level of blood sugar from diabetes can also lead to abnormal organ development, he said. And some of the chemicals in cigarette smoke, including nicotine, can reduce oxygen supply to the fetus.
Warren said there is more to do. He pointed to Mississippi, who declared an emergency of public health last week for his high infant mortality rates and promised to eliminate “deserts of care”, where women do not have access to obstetricians.
The external researchers praised the launch of the study in the midst of layoffs and proposed fund cuts to the agency.
“We are delighted that this study has been ongoing. There were some questions about whether or not it would continue,” said Wendy Nembhard, director of the Research and Prevention Center of the Arkansas Girl Defect Center at the University of Arkansas by Medical Sciences.
The Department of Health and Human Services in March announced the termination of 2,400 CDC employees. However, a federal judge issued a preliminary decision on August 12 that blocked layoffs for certain CDC programs, including the National Center for Birth Defects and Disabilities of Development, the group behind the new study. At least 600 CDC employees are still expected to receive permanent termination warnings.
