National Alcohol and Drug Related Birth Defects Awareness week runs from Mother’s Day through Sunday and Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland officials are urging pregnant mothers to avoid the dangers these substances can pose.
In the United States, nearly 2 million women smoke, consume alcohol or use an illicit drug at least once during their pregnancy despite the drastic health risks, according to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, the most common result of substance intake during pregnancy, results in facial malformations, growth deficits and central nervous system problems that can persist throughout a child’s life. Illegal drugs and cigarettes, in turn, can result in brain, lung and nerve damage that may be fatal to children in some cases and life-altering in nearly all others.
Cases of prenatal substance abuse, per capita, may have been declining over the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but the terrible consequences they can have on mothers and newborns remains far-reaching, said Maj. Aimee Alviar, 59th Medical Operation Squadron Obstetrics and Gynecology nurse practitioner.
“These problems trickle down into everything,” she said. “If we don’t take care of ourselves as pregnant women, we can’t take care of the family.”
Alviar’s office provides services to all service members and beneficiaries who are pregnant or considering pregnancy and they emphasize abuse prevention by screening for abuse and providing educational materials to families as early as their first visit to a prenatal clinic.
“Most of our mothers already know about the dangers of smoking, drinking and drugs,” Alviar said. “But we still have to work to educate people about these dangers. Every mother should know about this.”
The 59th MDOS also tries to address secondary exposures, like second-hand smoke.
Secondhand smoke exposure increases the risk of stillbirth by 23 percent in nonsmoking pregnant women, compared with women who were not exposed to smoke at work or at home. Passive smoking also increases the risk of congenital birth defects by 13 percent, according to a 2011 University of Nottingham
study.
“This isn’t just the mother’s responsibility,” Alviar explained. “Anyone smoking in the household can have an effect on the pregnancy.”
Educating military families about these dangers is crucial to the mission of the 59th MDOS, she added.
“We think about taking care of the whole family and that baby is part of the family, so if the active-duty member cannot function or remain mentally focused because his or her child has to go to the hospital or even dies of a complication, that compromises everyone’s mission,” she said. “There’s no way most active duty members in that situation would be able to focus on their mission.”
To schedule an appointment at the 59th MDOS, call 292-6104. For OB/GYN Triage Nurse and follow-up appointments, call 916-2168, while routine general health appointments can be made by calling 916-9900. For more details, visit http://www.59mdw.af.mil.