News Moms Need

January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month! This year the theme is “And the Beat Goes On… Looking to the Future for Healthy Hearts” which focuses on congenital heart defects, the most common type of birth defect.

A congenital heart defect is an abnormality in any part of the heart that is present at birth. Heart defects originate in the early weeks of pregnancy when the heart is forming. About 35,000 infants (1 out of every 125) are born with heart defects each year in the United States. The defect may be so slight that the baby appears healthy for many years after birth, or so severe that his life is in immediate danger.

Heart defects are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths. However, advances in diagnosis and surgical treatment have led to dramatic increases in survival for children with serious heart defects. In the United States, about 1.4 million children and adults live with congenital heart defects today. Almost all are able to lead active, productive lives.

A number of scientists funded by the March of Dimes are studying genes that may underlie specific heart defects or are seeking to identify new genes that may cause heart defects. The goal of this research is to better understand the causes of congenital heart defects, in order to develop ways to prevent them. Grantees also are looking at how environmental factors (such as a form of vitamin A called retinoic acid) may contribute to congenital heart defects. One grantee is seeking to understand why some babies with serious heart defects develop brain injuries, in order to learn how to prevent and treat them.

To learn more about the more common heart defects and how they affect a child, read our article.

The wonderful DiscoveryHealth NICU series (Thursdays at 10 PM ET/PT) has brought to light the intensity and reality of the struggles premature babies and their families face.  But babies born full term can be in the NICU, too, especially if they are sick or have a birth defect and need specialized treatment.

Some babies are born with an abdominal wall defect such as gastroschisis or omphalocele. These often require surgery or staged repair over time.  Some babies have heart defects that also require monitoring or surgery.  Other babies may qualify as full term (over 37 completed weeks) but have failed to thrive and have a low birthweight.   Other conditions that might require a stay in the NICU  include: anemia (low number of red blood cells in the blood), apnea (breathing irregularity), bradycardia (abnormal slowing of the heart rate), bronchopulmonary dysplasia (a form of chronic lung disease), hydrocephalus (water on the brain), sepsis (infection that spreads throughout the body).

All of us with preemies are acutely aware of these intensive care services, but we need to realize that the wonderful staff of the NICU need to be prepared for any baby, any size, any gestational age, any complication.  Thank goodness they are there for all of us.

Infants who are conceived using assisted reproductive technogy (ART) may be at increased risk of certain birth defects, according to a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

With ART, a woman’s eggs are surgically removed, combined with sperm in a lab, and then returned to her body. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most common ART procedure.

In the study, ART was associated with:

   * Twice the risk of some heart defects

   * More than twice the risk of cleft lip or palate (a gap in the lip or roof of the mouth)

   * Over four times the risk of gastrointestinal defects

The study was limited. It looked only at ART and not at other kinds of fertility treatment, like fertility drugs or artificial insemination. Also, it reviewed only pregnancies that resulted in a single birth (not twins, triplets or more).

To learn more about fertility treatment, see the March of Dimes article. For more information on the study, visit the CDC Web site.