BACKGROUND: There is equivocal evidence in the published literature that folic acid supplementation during pregnancy may protect against the common congenital anomalies cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CLP) and cleft palate alone (CP). We undertook this meta-analysis to test the hypothesis that nonsyndromic oral cleft birth prevalences are different for those whose mothers took folic acid-containing supplements and for those whose mothers did not. METHODS: Human studies published in English were identified through MEDLINE, bibliography reviews, and contacting experts in the field. Within strata of prospective and case-control studies, CLP, CP, and all clefts, respectively, were analyzed using either a fixed or random effects model, as appropriate. We assessed for publication bias using Begg and Mazumdar's rank correlation and Egger's regressionbased tests. RESULTS: Five prospective studies were analyzed, yielding combined relative risks of 0.51 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.95) for CLP, 1.19 (95% CI: 0.43, 3.28) for CP, and 0.55 (95% CI: 0.32, 0.95) for all clefts. Twelve casecontrol studies were assessed, which resulted in combined relative risks of 0.77 (95% CI: 0.65, 0.90) for CLP, 0.80 (95% CI: 0.69, 0.93) for CP, and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.71, 0.85) for all clefts. CONCLUSIONS: In aggregate, our results support the hypothesis of a protective effect of folic acid-containing supplement intake during pregnancy on the risk for oral clefts, although this conclusion is tempered by the potential for bias and uncontrolled confounding. Birth Defects Research (Part A) 79:8-15, 2007.

Failure to consider the effects of aspirin on BOP could impair proper diagnosis and treatment planning for clinicians and introduce a significant confounding variable in research situations.

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The aim of this study was to determine whether not treating chronic dental infection during the admission for cardiac valve surgery would increase the morbidity and mortality of patients. Patients were divided into three groups: dentally unhealthy and untreated (Group A), dentally healthy not requiring treatment (Group B), and dentally unhealthy and treated (Group C). Hospital computer records and phone interviews were used to assess morbidity and mortality as assessed through the Social Security Death Index. Ninety-eight patient charts were reviewed. Patients in Group A (n = 47)were not at a significantly greater risk for developing infective endocarditis (IE) within 6 months of cardiac surgery compared to patients in Groups B (n = 17) and C (n = 34). Also, patients in Group A did not have a significantly higher rate of mortality compared to other groups (p= .09). The results suggest that there is no need to treat chronic oral infections in patients with compromised cardiac function within 24 to 48 hours prior to cardiac valve replacement surgery since this will not lower the risk of IE and death following cardiac valve surgery. Multicenter prospective case-controlled studies are needed to address this question definitively.

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