The CDC says a life-threatening birth defect is on the rise in the United States

More infants are being born with gastroschisis, a birth defect in which their intestines come out of their body through a hole next to the navel, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to figure out why.
After studying data from 1995 to 2012, researchers found that there's been a 263 percent increase in black mothers under the age of 20 giving birth to babies with gastroschisis, the Los Angeles Times reports. Coleen Boyle, director of the CDC's National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, said it's critical that researchers figure out what is causing the uptick and which women are at greater risk for having babies with gastroschisis.
Nearly 2,000 children are born in the U.S. with gastroschisis every year, and sometimes organs like the liver and stomach are also coming out of their body. It can be a life-threatening condition, and many infants have surgery soon after birth. It's a long recovery, and many go on to have digestive and feeding issues and stunted growth. Researchers suspect that environmental factors, including the food a mother eats and medicines used during pregnancy, could play a factor, and they do know that mothers who drink alcohol or smoke tobacco during their pregnancy are at greater risk of having a baby with gastroschisis.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Today's political cartoons - February 22, 2025
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - bricking it, I can buy myself flowers, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 exclusive cartoons about Trump and Putin negotiating peace
Cartoons Artists take on alternative timelines, missing participants, and more
By The Week US Published
-
The AI arms race
Talking Point The fixation on AI-powered economic growth risks drowning out concerns around the technology which have yet to be resolved
By The Week UK Published
-
Ozempic can curb alcohol cravings, study finds
Speed read Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy may also be helpful in limiting alcohol consumption
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
New form of H5N1 bird flu found in US dairy cows
Speed Read This new form of bird flu is different from the version that spread through herds in the last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Microplastics accumulating in human brains, study finds
Speed Read The amount of tiny plastic particles found in human brains increased dramatically from 2016 to 2024
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FDA approves painkiller said to thwart addiction
Speed Read Suzetrigine, being sold as Journavx, is the first new pharmaceutical pain treatment approved by the FDA in 20 years
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Study finds possible alternative abortion pill
Speed Read An emergency contraception (morning-after) pill called Ella could be an alternative to mifepristone for abortions
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
California declares bird flu emergency
Speed Read The emergency came hours after the nation's first person with severe bird flu infection was hospitalized
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Bird flu one mutuation from human threat, study finds
Speed Read A Scripps Research Institute study found one genetic tweak of the virus could enable its spread among people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dark chocolate tied to lower diabetes risk
Speed Read The findings were based on the diets of about 192,000 US adults over 34 years
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published