Alcohol Binges Early in Pregnancy Increase Risk of Infant
Oral Clefts
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Brief Description:
Oral clefts are birth defects that affect the upper lip and
the roof of the mouth. They occur in about two of every one-thousand
live births.
Transcript:
Balintfy: Oral clefts are birth defects that
affect the upper lip and the roof of the mouth. They occur in
about two of every one-thousand live births.
DeRoo: There are two major infant oral cleft
types.
Balintfy: Dr. Lisa DeRoo is a Staff Scientist,
in the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences. DeRoo: Cleft lip with or without cleft palate,
or cleft palate alone.
Balintfy: The causes of clefts are largely
unknown, but a new study finds that women who binge drink early
in their pregnancy increase the likelihood that their babies
will be born with oral clefts.
DeRoo: These findings reinforce the fact that
women should not drink alcohol during pregnancy; and prenatal
exposure to alcohol, especially excessive amounts at one time,
can adversely affect the fetus and may increase the risk of infant
cleft.
Balintfy: Dr. DeRoo explains that an alcohol
binge is drinking five or more drinks in one sitting. She adds
that women who consumed this much alcohol were more than twice
as likely than non-drinkers to have an infant with oral clefts.
DeRoo: Furthermore, women who drank at this level on three or
more occasions during their first trimester were three times
as likely to have infants born with oral clefts.
Balintfy: Oral clefts happen when the tissue
that forms the roof of the mouth and upper lip don't join before
birth. The problem can range from a small notch in the lip to
a groove that runs into the roof of the mouth and nose. Treatment
usually is surgery to close the lip and palate. For more on this
study, visit
www.niehs.nih.gov.
This is Joe Balintfy, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
Maryland.
This page was last reviewed on
February 2, 2009