In the study, ample data was gathered from mothers of 505 babies with gastroschisis and a control group of 4,924 babies without the birth defect in the 10 states by the researchers. The researchers also arranged data from a computer-assisted telephone interview and interviewed in the intention of asking questions on the subject of whether they'd had any kidney, bladder, or urinary tract infections, pelvic inflammatory disease or other illnesses, such as STDs, before or during pregnancy.

Of those who were contacted, almost 70 percent women in each group agreed to take part in the study. However it was found that women who decided to be having both an STD and UTI instantaneously previous to or early in pregnancy were four times more likely to have a child with gastroschisis. Mothers under 25 whose babies had gastroschisis reported having an STD and UTI almost five times more than mothers in the control group. Most women 25 or older, not any of the mothers reported having both types of infection. The researchers concluded that mothers in both groups reported having more UTIs than STDs.  Marcia L. Feldkamp, Ph.D., P.A., assistant professor of pediatrics at the U School of Medicine and director of the Utah Birth Defect Network, this study may slightly tell about a wide-reaching increase in gastroschisis. “Gastroschisis is a public health issue worldwide, and the prevalence is on the rise in Utah . We don’t understand why this is occurring. But the incidence of STDs is also increasing and there may be a connection,” Feldkamp guessed that this connection might be even stronger than the study suggests, as STDs and UTIs are usually left unnoticed. “One of the problems, especially with Chlamydia, is these infections are subclinical (unreported) because the woman doesn’t know she has it. We probably have many cases that go undiagnosed,” said Feldkamp. She worried about the issue is fairly significant in the under-20 age group as STDs are on a rise in women in this demographic. For the most part Chlamydia is quickly increasing and can consequence in both a sexually transmitted disease infection and a UTI. “If teens are having sex and getting pregnant, they’re at risk of sexually transmitted diseases. They’re not thinking about the consequences, so that’s a huge problem with this age group,” she said.

On the other hand, Feldkamp said that those babies who are born with gastroschisis are assumed to survive today than they were a few decades back, with about a 90 percent survival rate. Surgeons will place the intestines back in the abdomen. However this from time to time can be a slow process resulting in complications.