Gastroschisis, an abdominal wall defect, most often occurs in infants of young mothers. To identify risk factors for gastroschisis, we conducted a case-control study in the population surveyed by the California Birth Defects Monitoring Program (CBDMP). From structured questionnaire data, we compared sociodemographic, reproductive, and lifestyle factors for 110 mothers of infants with gastroschisis with those for 220 age-matched mothers of normal infants. Univariate matched-pair analysis showed significant associations of gastroschisis with mother's education, yearly family income, marital status, a history of mother's mother smoking, mother's father's absence from home during the mother's youth, more than one elective abortion, a short interval between menarche and first pregnancy, siblings from different fathers, and use of either a recreational drug (either cocaine, amphetamine, marijuana, or LSD), alcohol, or tobacco during the trimester preceding pregnancy. For cocaine, amphetamine, and marijuana, use of more than one drug showed a stronger association than single drug use. The association was stronger if both parents used drugs. Although many variables were correlated, odds ratios (OR) were significant (95% confidence intervals) in multivariate conditional logistic analysis for: yearly family income < $10,000 [OR = 4.34 (1.54, 12.22)] or $10,000-$49,999 [OR = 3.93 (1.43, 10.80)]; mother's mother's smoking status not known [OR = 3.99 (1.66, 9.56)]; mother's father's absence from home during her youth [OR = 3.11 (1.14, 8.46)]; and drug use by mother [OR = 2.21 (1.21, 4.03)], father [OR = 1.66 (1.02, 2.69)], or both [OR = 3.05 (1.48, 6.28)]. The best predictive model explained 32% of the deviance. Young, socially disadvantaged women with a history of substance use were at highest risk for a child with a gastroschisis.

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The Child Health and Development Studies are prospective longitudinal studies on medical and social aspects of pregnancies and on the health and development of children. Data have been assembled on about 20,000 pregnancies occurring in one hospital between 1959 and 1967, and on follow-up of the children through adolescence. A currently ongoing project updates certain vital statistics of the entire study population. The data assembled in this longitudinal study supported a wide range of research projects, several of which proved to be important for the health of mothers and children. Notwithstanding, subsets of the assembled data, with potential value for public health, have not yet been explored. The data archive has been made accessible to the research community at large so that other significant research topics can be investigated. In the following article, brief descriptions are given of the history and design of the Child Health and Development Studies, of the contents of the data archive, and of the major areas of research that have been explored. Procedures to obtain access to the data and to the user's manual are explained, and a bibliography is included.

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