Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Infant Birth Defects: Studies Link Defects to Obese Mothers
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that birth defects affect about one in every 33 babies born in the United States each year.
They are the leading cause of infant deaths, accounting for more than 20% of all infant deaths. Babies born with birth defects have a greater chance of illness and long term disability than babies without birth defects.
Recent Studies of Birth Defects
Recent studies have shown that pregnant women who are obese are more likely to have babies with rare but serious birth defects, including:
- spina bifida,
- heart anomalies,
- cleft palate, and
- hydrocephaly, also called water on the brain.
Risk of Birth Defects to Babies Born to Obese Mothers
Risk of Spina Bifida
A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association analyzed 39 earlier studies and found that the risk of spina bifida was 2.2 times higher for babies of obese mothers, compared to babies born to normal birth weight mothers.
Risk of Neural Tube Defects
The research also found that the risk of other neural tube infant defects was 1.8 times higher.
Other Risks
These babies also faced increases in risk for heart defects, stunted limbs, a congenital malformation of the anal opening, and hydrocephaly.
Senior author of the study and researcher at the Institute of Health and Society at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, Judith Rankin, said in the report that researchers were surprised at the range of birth defects that were found to have an increased risk in mothers who were obese. Previously, researchers had found that neural tube defects and some heart anomalies were associated with obese mothers.
Advice to Expectant Mothers
According to the article, women who are planning a pregnancy are advised to take folic acid supplements even before conception, to reduce the risk of potentially serious neural tube defects, including spina bifida.
Dr. Rankin also suggested that insulin resistance and undiagnosed diabetes, rather than insufficient folic acid, may be causing birth defects among babies born to obese women, though the precise mechanism is not known.
For over 30 years Kiley Law Group, located in Andover and Boston, Massachusetts, has fought on behalf of children. Our Boston child birth injury lawyers take time when speaking with you about your child's accident and injuries.
Kiley Law Group works with you on a contingency basis, which means there are NO FEES unless our trained child injury attorneys win your case. Contact us today for a FREE legal evaluation of your child’s accident injury case.
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