Secondhand smoke during the periconceptional period increases the risk for orofacial clefts in offspring.

Pi, Xin; Li, Zhiwen; Jin, Lei; Liu, Jufen; Zhang, Yali; Zhang, Le; Wang, Linlin; Ren, Aiguo

<bold>Background: </bold>To examine whether exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) during the periconceptional period among nonsmoking women is associated with an increased risk for orofacial clefts (OFCs) in offspring in a population with low rates of maternal active smoking but high rates of SHS exposure.<bold>Methods: </bold>We recruited 240 women with OFC-affected pregnancies and 1420 women who delivered healthy infants from a population-based case-control study in northern China during 2002 and 2016. Data including self-reported SHS exposure were collected by trained health care workers through face-to-face interviews. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were used to estimate the association between SHS exposure and OFC risk.<bold>Results: </bold>The unadjusted ORs for OFCs and cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL±P) in association with SHS exposure were both 1.6 (95% CI 1.2, 2.1). After adjusting for maternal fever or flu, farming occupation, infant sex, and history of pregnancy affected by birth defects, the adjusted ORs were both 1.6 (95% CI 1.2, 2.2). Frequent SHS exposure (>6 times/week) was associated with an even higher risk for OFCs (adjusted OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.8, 3.8) and for CL±P (adjusted OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.7, 3.7).<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Maternal SHS exposure during the periconceptional period increases the risk for OFCs in offspring among nonsmoking mothers.

PREGNANCY complications; LOGISTIC regression analysis; MEDICAL care; CLEFT lip; EPIDEMICS

Paediatric & Perinatal Epidemiology, 2018, Vol 32, Issue 5, p423

0269-5022

Academic Journal

10.1111/ppe.12497