Environmental Factors in the First Trimester and Risk of Oral-Facial Clefts in the Offspring

Abstract

The averaged incidences of nonsyndromal/isolated cleft lip (CL), cleft palate (CP), and cleft lip with cleft palate (CLCP) by each month-of-conception, and managed in our hospital in from 2002 to 2009 were correlated with the reported levels of sunshine, ultraviolet radiation, and ambient nitrogen oxides (nitrogen oxide, nitrogen monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide), sulfur dioxide, and ozone, at the month of, and then at 4 and 8 weeks after, conception. There were 25, 12, and 22 cases each of CL, CP, and CLCP, respectively, totaling 59 cases (1.21 of 1000 births). On regression analysis, sunshine correlated inversely with the isolated CL at (P = .009) 4 weeks (P = .005) and 8 weeks (P = .008) postconception, and with CP (P = .009) and CLCP (P < .001) at 8 weeks postconception, while NOx correlated inversely with CL (P = .018) and NO with CLCP (P = .031), at 8 weeks postconception. Our results suggested that the interaction between sunshine and nitrogen oxides with other factors results in the reported seasonal variation in the incidence of isolated oral-facial clefts.

Expression profile of plasma microRNAs in nonsyndromic cleft lip and their clinical significance as biomarkers

“…Consistently, altered function of several genes during craniofacial development contributed to nonsyndromic cleft lip [29]. Besides, nitrogen oxides correlated inversely with CL [30]. Nevertheless, more investigation is still in need to uncover the mechanisms by which the three miRNAs were elevated in CL plasma samples.…”

The Correlation between Maternal Exposure to Air Pollution and the Risk of Orofacial Clefts in Infants: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Figure 1 shows a flow diagram of the search result and study selection. Eight articles were identified [ 12 , 17-23 ] that met the inclusion criteria ( Table 1 ). Most studies were judged to be of medium or high quality.…”

“…Chung et al [ 17 ] studied the possible correlation between the risk of orofacial clefts and sunshine, Ultra-violet radiation, NO, NO 2 and SO 2 and O 3 . These variables were measured for the month of conception, and for 4 - 8 weeks post-conception, which is the approximate time period of fetal lip and palate development and fusion.…”

Prevalence of non-syndromic orofacial clefts: based on 15,094,978 Chinese perinatal infants

“…Genetic and epidemiological studies have clarified that the etiology of NSOFC is involving genetic and environmental risk factors [ 27 – 30 ]. Findings of genome-wide and genome-wide meta-analyses have suggested various loci could have a causal role in NSOFC, including 1p22.1: rs560426, 1q32.2: rs861020, 8q24: rs987525, 10q25: rs7078160, and 13q31.1: rs8001641 [ 28 , 29 ].…”