Birth defects is one of the most common disorder that happens to the baby while developing inside the mother’s womb nowadays and may cause death. Birth defects may affect the baby’s body’s functioning which is known as functional or developmental birth defects. This type of birth defects involves in three specific disorders which are the nervous system problems, metabolic disorders and degenerative disorders. Each of these issues has different involvement in the function of the body, example of disorders and the causes.
One of the problems that are affected by the birth defects is the nervous system problem. Nervous system plays important role in one’s body since it controls the spinal cord and the brain. An issue in the nervous system may lead to another issue. The issue may involve in the problem in the kid’s learning abilities, behaviour, speech and language abilities, as well as attention disorder [1,2]. Kids with this problem might be way behind the normal kids in school as it will be very hard for them to catch up with others. Some of the example of the birth defects that is affecting the nervous system are Down syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome and Fragile X syndrome [1]. The causes of these problems are believed to be a combination of the genetic issue such as the arrangement or the range of the chromosomes and some environmental factors such as folic acid deficiency [3]. Hence, it is important to be conscious of the environmental condition where the mother’s live and the mother’s nutrition intake in order to prevent the birth defects.
The second problem that is related to birth defects is metabolic disorders. The body metabolism includes the chemical reactions in the body. Also, the metabolism controls the excretion of the body waste as well as the cell reproductions and many others. Metabolic disorder may involve in the problem in getting rid of the harmful substances from the body or any other waste products of the chemical reactions [1,2]. The examples of the birth defects that results in metabolic disorders are phenylketonuria and hypothyroidism [1,2]. Phenylketonuria causes the body to be unable break down a certain amino acid called phenylalanine while hypothyroidism cause the endocrine gland to be unable to function properly. These issues mainly caused by genetic problem which cause the enzyme or the hormone in the body to be unable to work properly [4]. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the factors that cause the disorder since the baby is still in the mother’s body.
Lastly, degenerative disorders are also one of the problems that are associated to birth defects. Degenerative itself means the loss of organs or the tissues functions and decreasing in its performance. Degenerative disorders might not be able to be identified when the baby is just born. It occurs suddenly as the individual is growing up which happens when the parts of the body start not to function effectively [1,2]. Muscular dystrophy which is when the muscle becomes weak and starts losing its muscular mass, as well as X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy are the examples of degenerative disorders [1,2]. Even though the specific factor that causes degenerative disorders has not been found yet, the researchers claimed that there is a similarity between the diseases which is an occurrence of abnormal proteins [5].
In conclusion, it is essential for the mother to be familiar with the causes and the consequences of birth defects. As this might affect the baby’s future, it is advised to do the required test while the mother is pregnant, so that they will be prepared for the upcoming situation. In addition, it is claimed that the functional birth defects are related to the three other disorders and involves in different ways.
References
1. What are the types of birth defects? [Internet]. NIH. 2017 [cited 17 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/birthdefects/conditioninfo/types
2. Structural and Functional Birth Defects [Internet]. Birth Defect Research for Children. 2018 [cited 17 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.birthdefects.org/structural-and-functional-birth-defects/
3. Central nervous system birth defects [Internet]. Better Health Channel. 2018 [cited 17 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/central-nervous-system-birth-defects
4. Inherited metabolic disorders [Internet]. Mayo Clinic. 2017 [cited 17 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/inherited-metabolic-disorders/symptoms-causes/syc-20352590
5. What is Degenerative Disease [Internet]. Docdoc. 2018 [cited 17 December 2018]. Available from: https://www.docdoc.com.sg/info/condition/degenerative-disease/