====== Human birth defects ======

Birth defects - sometimes severe - occur at a rate of roughly 1 per 33 births worldwide. Which currently equates to nearly 8 million per year.

Of these, approximately 20% can be accounted for (genetic defects, smoking, viruses and bacteria, obesity, stress etc) the remaining 80% have unknown causes.

The figures come from a five-year large-scale 2017 study :

>The overall conclusion remains that a specific cause cannot yet be determined for most birth defects, underscoring the current gaps in knowledge and the challenge of primary prevention.
>
>Source : [[https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j2249|Etiology and clinical presentation of birth defects: population based study]] {{:oa_padlock_grn.png?16&nolink|Open Access}}//BMJ// 2017;357:j2249