A population-based case–control study of the association between weather-related extreme heat events and orofacial clefts

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Birth Defects Res
• Personal Author:
  Soim, Aida ; Sheridan, Scott C. ; Hwang, Syni-An ; Hsu, Wan-Hsiang ; Fisher, Sarah C. ; Shaw, Gary M. ; Feldkamp, Marcia L. ; Romitti, Paul A. ; Reefhuis, Jennita ; Langlois, Peter H. ; Browne, Marilyn L. ; Lin, Shao
• Corporate Authors:
  National Birth Defects Prevention Study
• Description:
  Background
  
  Limited epidemiologic research exists on the association between weather-related extreme heat events (EHEs) and orofacial clefts (OFCs). We estimated the associations between maternal exposure to EHEs in the summer season and OFCs in offspring and investigated the potential modifying effect of body mass index on these associations.
  
  Methods
  
  We conducted a population-based case-control study among mothers who participated in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study for whom at least 1 day of their first two post-conception months occurred during summer. Cases were live-born infants, stillbirths, and induced terminations with OFCs; controls were live-born infants without major birth defects. We defined EHEs using the 95th and the 90th percentiles of the daily maximum universal apparent temperature distribution. We used unconditional logistic regression with Firth’s penalized likelihood method to estimate adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals, controlling for maternal sociodemographic and anthropometric variables.
  
  Results
  
  We observed no association between maternal exposure to EHEs and OFCs overall, although prolonged duration of EHEs may increase the risk of OFCs in some study sites located in the Southeast climate region. Analyses by subtypes of OFCs revealed no associations with EHEs. Modifying effect by BMI was not observed.
  
  Conclusions
  
  We did not find a significantly increased risk of OFCs associated with maternal exposure to EHEs during the relevant window of embryogenesis. Future studies should account for maternal indoor and outdoor activities and for characteristics such as hydration and use of air conditioning that could modify the effect of EHEs on pregnant women.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Article Brain Case-Control Studies Cleft Lip Cleft Palate Congenital Malformations Extreme Heat Female Humans Infant, Newborn Logistic Models Male Maternal Exposure Mothers NBDPS Odds Ratio Population Surveillance Pregnancy Pregnancy Trimester, First Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects Risk Factors Seasons Self Report Temperature Weather Weather-related Extreme Heat

  More +
• Source:
  Birth Defects Res. 110(19):1468-1477
• Pubmed ID:
  30338937
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC7551893
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  5R21ES021359-02/NH/NIH HHS/United States ; CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHS/United States ; U01DD001032/CC/CDC HHS/United States ; U01 DD001223/DD/NCBDD CDC HHS/United States ; U01DD001032/ACL/ACL HHS/United States ; R21 ES021359/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/United States ; U01 DD001035/DD/NCBDD CDC HHS/United States
• Volume:
  110
• Issue:
  19
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:451c05d74fa75a2647ea03e14433c5cccf9326325556f524bbf78e0212405eee
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/95630/cdc_95630_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 527.33 KB ]