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Birth Defects Frequently Asked Questions
Tracking Birth Defects
What
can I do to help have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby?
Plan your pregnancy because the first few weeks
before most women know they are pregnant are very important for normal
development.
- See your health care provider
before you are pregnant
- Know your family medical history
and tell your health care provider if anyone has had a pregnancy or baby
affected by birth defects
- Get any medical condition (obesity,
diabetes, high blood pressure, seizures, etc.) under control before
becoming pregnant
- Take
a vitamin with 400 micrograms of folic acid daily before and during
pregnancy
Take care of yourself
before, during and after pregnancy.
-
Get plenty of rest
-
Exercise moderately
-
Avoid contact with
chemicals and reduce exposures in the home and workplace that may
harm a developing baby
-
Avoid alcohol, tobacco
and drugs
-
Talk with your health
care provider before taking any prescribed or over-the-counter
medications
-
Know if you are
up-to-date with your immunizations
-
Know if you have any
infections and have them treated before becoming pregnant
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Why are we concerned about environmental
hazards and what is known about birth defects?
Scientists know that the fetus is more
sensitive to exposures than an adult and if exposures happen during
important periods of development then birth defects may happen. Although
there has been some research into how environmental exposures might cause
birth defects, there is still much more work that needs to be done to
understand the relationship of these exposures to birth defects.
We do know that alcohol, cigarettes,
radiation, maternal infections and metabolic imbalances, drugs and
environmental chemicals increase a woman's risk of having a baby with birth
defects. Being able to share data about when and where birth defects
happen will help scientists understand whether these defects might be
related to things in the environment. This is one of the main reasons why
birth defects data is part of the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.
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Which birth defects are you currently
monitoring?
We are "tracking"
the following birth defects:
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How will
CDC and Florida EPHT be tracking birth defects?
One of the first steps we will be taking in the
effort to track birth defects, is to identify where and when certain birth
defects are occurring in Florida. By working with the
Florida Birth Defects Registry to gather data
from hospitals, the tracking program will be able to analyze the data for
trends and patterns of selected birth defects. This may provide important clues to public health
officials and researchers in their efforts to discover
environmental causes for birth defects.
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Why is birth defects
research important?
Birth defects can cause lifelong
problems with health, growth and learning. We want to find ways to prevent
them. We conduct research into the causes of birth defects so that we can
understand factors that increase or decrease the risk of having a baby with
birth defects. For example, studies are underway to learn how substances in
the air, water and soil might harm a developing baby.
The
Florida Birth Defects Registry
monitors when, where and among whom birth defects are occurring in Florida.
The Registry shares
non-confidential summarized data with CDC, child health advocates, health
care providers and researchers. Reports include the routine compilation of
rates, trends and recommendations that are useful to public health officials
and other parties interested in preventing birth defects and helping
families.
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Where can I go for more information on birth defects?
Please see the links
section of our Birth Defect webpage.
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