What are they?
What are they?
- These conditions can affect the heart’s shape, how it works, or both
- Congenital heart defects are the most common types of birth defects
- Nearly 1 in 100 babies is born with a heart defect in the US each year
- Many heart defects don’t need treatment or can be fixed easily, but some can cause serious health problems or death
- These types of defects affect the septum (wall that splits right and left side of heart)
- Heart valves (open and close to control blood flow to and from the heart)
- Arteries and veins (arteries carry blood away from the heart and to the body. Veins carry blood away from the body and to the heart)
- Dangerous because they can cause blood to slow down, go in the wrong direction or to the wrong place, or be blocked completely.
- Diabetes, lupus, rubella, being obese
- Changes in genes or chromosomes (researchers have found about 40 gene changes that cause heart defects)
- Children with Down Syndrome, Turner Syndrome, and Noonan Syndrome are likely to have heart defects
- Environment: smoking before or during pregnancy and drinking alcohol during pregnancy
- Get a rubella vaccination before trying to conceive
- Control medical conditions like diabetes
- Avoiding harmful substances like alcohol and drugs while pregnant
- Taking a multivitamin with folic acid (shown to reduce risk of many birth defects)
