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Birth Defects Locally and Globally

A study taken in order to determine what factors play key roles in the presence of
birth defects locally versus globally by Kayla Pimentel and Gabby Castillo

About
A child born with a birth defect
isnt that rare. About 1 in every
33 babies (roughly 3%) is born
with a birth defect. There are
many forms of birth defects.
Ear birth defects, facial birth
defects, leg birth defects- the
list goes on and on. Fortunately,
not all birth defects are life
threatening. Of course some are
more dangerous than others, but
there are also types of birth
defects that are hardly
noticeable and dont alter the

lives of the people affected in

the slightest. The purpose of our
research was to try and
determine how birth defects
may vary from country to
country, annual income, gender
of the child, race, etc. As youll
see throughout our study, there
isnt a ton of correlation
between each indicator. Many
birth defects just happen and we
are unsure why.

10 Indicators
In order to support our research
question we had to choose 10
other indicators to research and
find correlations or lack thereof:
Birth defects at random
Birth defects by genetics
Birth defects by race
Birth defects by country
Increase within the past years
Rate worldwide
Rate in the United States
Rate in California
Rate in San Diego
Most common birth defects

Not all our findings will be

added due to potential lack of
importance for our particular
research question, but the key
findings certainly will be
included.

Key Findings
Through our research we have
discovered that most birth
defects result from a
combination of genetic,
environmental, and behavioral
factors. For many birth defects,
it is unclear how these factors
work together. The incidence of
birth defects are not distributed
equally among the population.
Several differences, or
disparities, exist in the rates of
some birth defects. Different
population groups in the United
States and in California
experience different burdens of
some birth defects.Through our
research we discovered that
race is a factor in birth defects.
For example, infants of nonHispanic black or AfricanAmerican mothers had higher
birth prevalence to Tetralogy of
Fallot, Lower limb reduction
defects, and Trisomy 18 while
infants of Hispanic mothers had
a higher birth prevalence to
Anencephaly Spina bifida,
Encephalocele, Gastroschisis,
and Down Syndrome. We also
discovered that the age of the
mother is also a big factor.
Many are already aware that as
you age the safety of your
pregnancy is at risk especially
in the late thirties and early
forties, but its also a factor
when it comes to birth defects
in a child. At age 25, your
chances of delivering a baby
with Down syndrome are 1 in
1,250, and there's a 1 in 476
chance of having a baby with

any chromosomal abnormality.

At age 45, there's a 1 in 30
chance of delivering an infant
with Down syndrome and a 1 in
21 chance of having a baby
with any chromosomal
abnormality. In a 49-year-old
those risks rise to 1 in 11 and 1
in 8, respectively. We have
found that there is no exact
observation or correlation to
make about birth defects locally
and birth defects globally. Birth
defects vary depending on
genetics, living situation/area,
etc so its not easy to determine
key differences from country to
country.

Results
Two of the indicators we
decided to compare were birth
defects per 1,000 lives versus
the most common birth defects
in the world and their
occurrence rates. In image 1
you can see from the scatter
plot that there is little to no
correlation between how many
times the most common birth
defects happen with the birth
defects per 1,000 lives. In
image 2 we decided to compare
the most common birth defects
versus birth defects in the
United States because we
wanted to see about how many
of the birth defects that happen
in the US are common. We
found that the range is
significantly scattered. There
are high concentrations of
common birth defects that
happen in the US, but there are
also low concentrations. These
are only 2 of the scatter plots
that give you a little taste of a
majority of random and
inconsistent rates and
information we found on birth
defects.

Limitations
There are a few limitations
within our findings. There is
still a lot of data that we were
not able to find like exact birth
defects in certain countries, the
either growing, decreasing, or
consistent rate of birth defects
in our country and worldwide,
and things like the severity of
each birth defect. Of course we
have the numbers and statistics
on the occurrence of birth
defects in many countries, but
we dont exactly have to
severity of them all. An
example would be which
countries produce the most
deadly birth defects more often.
We also were not able to get a
solid inference on what major
things go into having a child
with a birth defect. There are so
many different things that could
be possible factors that it was
impossible to figure out which
ones happen most often or play
the biggest role. Our topic is a
very wide topic that has yet to
have all the answers unfolded,
but through our research I think
we certainly made solid and
potentially helpful comparisons.

Recommendations
Our research topic is not a topic
that can necessarily be altered
or changed. Our main goal
through our research was to
promote awareness and
knowledge. After reading our
research we hope that you are
left with more knowledge and a
little more understanding of
birth defects and its occurrence.
Birth defects are nothing to
frown upon or be scared of so it
is good to be aware.

Image 1

Image 2