What Are Congenital Birth Defects?
Congenital birth defects are abnormalities that appear in infants and cause severe physical or mental conditions. Some congenital defects are life-threatening and result in death. Many of these issues show up at birth, requiring babies to have long-term medical care. Doctors classify congenital problems in two categories: structural and developmental disorders. Structural defects cause physical issues and developmental defects cause functional delays. Some people, however, have a combination of structural and developmental symptoms. There are different reasons people are born with abnormalities including genetics and environmental toxins. Genetics play a big role in congenital birth defects since parents may have an odd number of chromosomes or suffer from a medical or physical condition that shows up in the infant. Parents who consume large amounts of alcohol, abuse drugs or who are exposed to certain chemicals are also at risk of having children with medical impairments.
