Babies with gastroschisis are born with their intestines — and sometimes other organs, like the stomach and liver — extruding from their body through an opening in the abdominal wall. This condition requires surgery and can be life-threatening in some cases. All total, gastroschisis affects roughly 2,000 babies born in the U.S. each year.
Highlighted below are five things to know about gastroschisis incidence and other report findings.
1. Overall, cases of gastroschisis are most prevalent in mothers under the age of 20.
2. From 1995 to 2012, the largest increase in this birth defect — 263 percent — occurred in babies born to non-Hispanic black mothers under the age of 20.
3. While the increase in gastroschisis incidence was most drastic in young, non-Hispanic black mothers, an upward trend in the birth defect was found in mothers of every age and racial/ethnic group studied.
4. The number of gastroschisis births increased among teen mothers, but the number of live births for teen mothers actually decreased during the same period.
5. Coleen Boyle, PhD, director of CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, called for more public health research to ascertain what causes gastroschisis and why certain women are more prone to the birth defect.
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Age of first-time mothers climbs in the US, study finds
