Nonsyndromic Oral clefts and associated risk factors in Gansu Province, Northwest of China

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the incidence of demographic and parental risk factors among patients with nonsyndromic oral cleft (NSOC) in Gansu Province, Northwest China. Patients and Methods: A multicenter study was conducted on patients with NSOC who received care in our centers between January 2017 and January 2019. Demographic data, pregnancy associated risk factors, hereditary history and consanguineous marriage were collected. Chi-square test was tabulated to identify the statistical significance of the data. P-value < 0.05 was regarded as statistically significant. Results: A total of 600 patients with NSOC were enrolled in the present study. Among the cases, 26.8 % were CL, 50.2 % were CLP, and 23 % were isolated CP. The ratio of boys to girls was higher in CL (1.5:1) and CLP (1.8:1), while CP recorded a lower ratio (0.5:1). Most of cases had type O blood group (40 %) and were the first births in their families (53.5 %). Higher rates of cases were born in winter (28.3 %) and spring (28.2 %), with a peak incidence in April (11.5 %). Most of presented cases were born by late parental middles age (25-29 years). Maternal passive smoking, paternal smoking and drinking, infectious diseases, abortion history, and drug use recorded the highest rates (53.8 %, 53.3 %, 50 %, 30.5 %, 23.3 %, and 18.7 %, respectively) among all parental risk factors. Among all demographic and parental risk factors, birth seasonality, early paternal middle age, prenatal infection, and fever were found to have a significant tendency for a certain cleft type or sex of patient. Conclusion: NSOC is a complex disease, could be the result of a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Familial history, consanguinity, seasonal changes, infections, fever, drug use, parental ages, and passive smoking are among risk factors that may be associated with NSOC. Our findings could provide references for proper resource use, NSOC prevention programs, and will contribute in minimizing the incidence of NSOC in the area of study. (C) 2021 Asian AOMS, ASOMP, JSOP, JSOMS, JSOM, and JAMI. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.