Most women under the age of 50 have risk factors for congenital malformations that can be lowered, the CDC finds
Babies out of 33 in the United States are born with congenital malformations. But a new study of centers for Disease Control and Prevention raises the means to reduce this risk.
The study indicates five risk factors that public health officials – and, in some cases, women themselves – can do something: obesity, diabetes, exposure to smoking, food insecurity and low folate levels (an essential vitamin that helps the body produces 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 results of the CDC, published Tuesday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, are based on the responses of 5,374 women who fulfilled the national survey of the agency’s health and nutrition examinations from 2007 to 2020.
“We cannot sufficiently emphasize the importance of raising awareness of these risk factors and encouraging women to speak with their doctors if they have concerns or questions before becoming pregnant,” said Arick Wang, CDC health scientist and the main author of the new study.
She added that “risks can be lowered by steps such as obtaining the 400 recommended micrograms (MCG) of folic acid daily, healthy diet and exercise and blood sugar management”.
Congenital malformations are the main cause of death in infants, according to CDC data. The risks often start before some women even know that they are pregnant. Although the causes of congenital malformations are largely a mystery, scientists generally recognize that a combination of genetics, environment and lifestyle factors is responsible.
“It should be alarm clock for all of us,” said Dr. Michael Warren, chief of health and health of March of Dimes, a non -profit research and advocacy group focused on maternal and infant 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 sure places to be physically active.”
People with food insecurity can be deficient in nutrients which are essential for the organs of a fetus to develop properly, including the Folat. For example, low concentrations of folate in the blood are associated with anomalies of the neural tube – brain defects or the spine that develop during the first month of pregnancy. Doctors recommend that pregnant people or try to get pregnant to have folic acid, the synthetic version of the Folate.
Since 1998, Food and Drug Administration has demanded that enriched products from enriched cereals be fortified with folic acid. Wang, the scientist of the CDC, said in a press release that policy probably prevents more than 1,300 babies each year from being born without neural tube defects.
“The vast majority of congenital malformations that occur, we still don’t know why they occur,” said Nembhard. “Even when women do everything correctly – they don’t smoke, they don’t drink during pregnancy, they monitor caffeine, they do the exercise – you can always have a result that is not what you want.”
Warren, who until June was an associate director of the HHS maternal and child health office, said many women may not be aware that conditions such as obesity and food insecurity are also risk factors.
Obesity, which affected about a third of the women interviewed, was the most common modifiable risk factor in the CDC study. Scientists are not exactly clear about the reasons why it is linked to congenital malformations, but they suspect that this has something to do with changes in the metabolism of a woman – like the way her body manages insulin and glucose – which can lead to abnormal development in the fetus.
“When [our] The cells develop and form organs, we really count on everything that works as it should be. And when you disrupt these processes, things can go wrong, “said Warren.
The high blood sugar blood sugar can also cause abnormal organ development, he said. And some of the chemicals of cigarette smoke, including nicotine, can reduce oxygen supply to the fetus.
Warren said there was more to do. He underlined the Mississippi, which declared a public health emergency last week on its high infant mortality rates and undertook to eliminate “deserts of care”, where women do not have access to the obstetricians.
External researchers praised the release of the study in the midst of layoffs and offered financing reductions to the agency.
“We are delighted that this study is underway. There were questions about whether she would continue or not, “said Wendy Nembhard, director of the Arkansas Center for Research and Prevention of Birth Defect at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
In March, the Ministry of Health and Social Services announced the dismissal of 2,400 CDC employees. However, a federal judge rendered a preliminary decision on August 12 which blocked dismissals for certain CDC programs, including the National Center on Contest Dovets and Developmental Handicility – the group behind the new study. At least 600 CDC employees should always receive permanent dismissal notices.
