Comparative evaluation of risk factors in children with cleft lip and palate and healthy children

Cleft lip and palate is a common congenital and developmental anomaly. Several risk factors have been reported, some of which have been studied to some extent. The aim of this study was to evaluate risk factors involved in patients referring to Isfahan Faculty of Dentistry. This retrospective case-control study was conducted in 2009-2010 in the Cleft Lip and Palate Clinic in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The case group included 149 (91 boys and 45 girls) children with cleft lip and palate under three years of age, and the control group included 151 (90 boys, 61 girls) healthy children under three years of age. Family history, maternal age at pregnancy and any of these cases in the first trimester of pregnancy were evaluated: infectious diseases, trauma, exposure to x-ray, vaginal bleeding, tobacco smoking, alcohol, drugs, stress and pre-pregnancy BMI. Data was analyzed by the descriptive statistical methods, including frequency, mean, t-test, χ2 and logistic regression (α = 0.05). The mean ages of children in the case and control groups were 1.89±0.84 and 1.77±0.93 years, respectively. The family history of cleft lip and palate (case=26.9%, control=1.3%) (p value < 0.001), use of antibiotics during the first trimester of pregnancy (case=26.2%, control=7.9%) (p value < 0.001), BMI before pregnancy (case mean = 23.57±0.46, control mean = 22.28±0.40) (p value = 0.036) and stress in the first trimester of pregnancy (case mean = 27.02±2.78, control mean =14.49±2.18) (p value = 0.048) were significantly different. In the present study four risk factors of family history, antibiotics, stress, and BMI before pregnancy were positively associated with the incidence of cleft lip and palate.