There has been an increasing prevalence of babies being born with organs outside their bodies in recent years and scientists cannot explain why, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The condition, known as gastroschisis, is a birth defect that occurs early in the pregnancy. The baby's abdominal wall muscles do not develop well, leaving a hole beside the belly button where the intestines and other organs come out, the CDC said.
Babies with gastroschisis need to undergo surgery to put the organs back inside the abdomen. However, even after surgery, some infants still experience problems with eating, absorbing nutrients and digestion.
Every year, there are 1,871 babies born with this birth defect in the U.S. According to the new CDC report, the number of gastroschisis cases almost doubled from 1995 to 2005. From 2006 to 2012, there was a 30 percent increase compared to the 1995 to 2005 data.
Overall, gastroschisis cases increased across all age groups and racial or ethnic groups, with the biggest increase seen among babies whose mothers were younger than 20. However, the greatest spike - 263 percent - was seen among non-Hispanic black mothers younger than 21.
The cause of gastroschsis is unknown, and experts still cannot explain the increasing prevalence of the condition.
"It concerns us that we don't know why more babies are being born with this serious birth defect. Public health research is urgently needed to figure out the cause and why certain women are at higher risk of having a baby born with gastroschisis," Coleen Boyle, director of the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the CDC, said in a news release.
Researchers found several factors that could increase the risk of gastroschisis. Teenage mothers faced a greater risk of having a baby with the birth defect compared to older mothers. Women who smoked and drank alcohol also had a higher risk of having a baby with gastroschisis. However, more research is needed to understand the condition and its risk factors.
"We must continue to monitor changes in this birth defect to identify risk factors contributing to these increases and hopefully start to reverse the trend," Peggy Honein, chief of the Birth Defects Branch at the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said in the news release.
