Maternal malnutrition, environmental exposure during pregnancy and the risk of non-syndromic orofacial clefts

OBJECTIVE: To explore the risk factors of non-syndromic orofacial clefts. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A case-control study was conducted in China, 537 infants born with non-syndromic cleft lip with/without cleft palate, 176 infants born with cleft palate (CP), and 221 normal controls were recruited to participate in a questionnaire based study to identify risk factors related to maternal nutrition. RESULTS: Single-factor Chi-square analysis identified 12 factors as significantly related to non-syndromic orofacial clefts (P < 0.05). Multiple logistic regression showed five of these factors were associated with non-syndromic orofacial clefts, male gender and maternal passive smoking during early pregnancy were risk factors for non-syndromic orofacial clefts (OR = 1.86 and 11.42; 95% CI: 2.28-2.69 and 6.87-19.00, respectively), whereas maternal weight gain during pregnancy and folic acid supplementation during early pregnancy were protective (OR = 0.15 and 0.67; 95% CI: 0.034-0.63 and 0.44-1.00, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our data may provide references for cleft lip and CP prevention programs, and counseling programs in China. Oral Diseases (2011) 17, 584-589