Maternal occupational risk factors for oral clefts

Abstract

Objectives This study investigated the role of maternal exposures at work during pregnancy in the occurrence of oral clefts. MethodsThe occupational exposures of 851 women (100 mothers of babies with oral clefts and 751 mothers of healthy referents) who worked during the first trimester of pregnancy were studied. All the women were part of a multicenter European case-referent study conducted using 6 congenital malfolmation registers between 1989 and 1992. In each center, the mother's occupational histoty, obtained from an interview, was reviewed by industrial hygienists who were blinded to the subject's status and who assessed the presence of chemicals and the probability of exposure. Odds ratios (OR) were estimated by a multivariate analysis including maternal occupation or occupational exposures during the first trimester of pregnancy and possible confounding factors such as center of recruitment, maternal age, urbanization, socioeconomic status, and country of origin.Results After adjustment for confounding factors, cleft palate only was significantly associated with maternal occupation in services such as hairdressing [OR 5.1,95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.0-26.01 and housekeeping (OR 2.8,95% CI 1.1-7.2). The analysis suggests that the following occupational exposures are associated with orofacial clefts: aliphatic aldehydes (OR 2.1,95% CI 0.8-5.9) and glycol ethers (OR 1.7,95% CI 0.9-3.3) for cleft lip with or without cleft palate and lead compounds (OR 4.0,95% CI 1.3-12.2), biocides (OR 2.5,95% CI 1.0-6.0), antineoplastic drugs (OR 5.0,95% CI 0.8-34.0), trichloroethylene (OR 6.7,95% CI 0.949.7), and aliphatic acids (OR 6.0,95% CI 1.5-22.8) for cleft palate only. C O~C I U S~O~SDue to the limited number of subjects, these results must be interpreted with caution. However, they point out some chemicals already known or suspected as reproductive toxins. [E-mail: lorente@vjf.inserm.fr] multifactorial in origin and are caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Many genetic (risk of Scand J Work Environ Health 2000, vol26, no 2 Key terms 137in Europe (1). Investigators agree that oral clefts are recurrence) and epidemiologic (sex ratio, prevalence)

Reproductive outcomes among hairdressers

“…Previous studies had indicated increased risks of hairdressers having an infant with a major malformation, such as oral clefts and hypospadias (21)(22)(23)(24). The pattern in the previous studies is not, however, consistent.…”

“…In addition to these cohort studies, a few studies have indicated increased risks for more-specific malformations among hairdressers (23)(24)(25). The pattern is, however, inconclusive and a need for more studies exists.…”

Pregnancy outcomes among female hairdressers who participated in the Danish National Birth Cohort

“…Some chemicals used by hairdressers, such as dibutyl phthalates (4), 2-nitro-p-phenylenediamine (5), and 4-nitro-o-phenyenediamine (5), have shown adverse reproductive effects in animal studies, but evidence from human studies is very limited (1,6). Some studies suggest that exposures in hairdressing salons may be related to menstrual disorders (7), spontaneous abortion (8)(9)(10), congenital malformations (9,11,12), small-for-gestational age (11,13), or delayed neurodevelopment in offspring (14), but others have not found any association (15)(16)(17).…”

Molecular Genetics of Non-Syndromic Clefts Revisited

“…Earlier studies demonstrated that the alcohol consumption during pregnancy is associated with orofacial clefts [111,116]. Maternal alcohol consumption during the first trimester of pregnancy increased risk for isolated CP, but not for CLP [117]. Another study, found that maternal alcohol use during pregnancy among oral cleft cases was slightly more frequent than among controls [118].…”