salicylates and Cleft-Palate

The linkage between potentially teratogenic factors was studied in a material of 599 children with oral clefts and their matched controls. A method based on Yule's Q coefficient describing the degree of association between two dichotomous variables was applied. All factors studied (five groups of drugs taken by the mothers during early pregnancy, maternal influenza and fever) were significantly associated with the birth of children with clefts. The only factor whose association with clefts was explained by linkage to other factors was fever. In addition, the association between clefts and antipyretic analgesics other than salicylates could be partly explained by controlling the intake of salicylates. Although there was a strong association between influenza and consumption of salicylates, the correlation of neither of the two factors with oral clefts could be even partly explained by controlling the other. The method is considered suitable for epidemiological studies of congenital defects.

Topics: Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; Analgesics; Child; Child, Preschool; Cleft Lip; Cleft Palate; Epidemiologic Methods; Female; Humans; Influenza, Human; Opium; Penicillins; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Complications, Infectious; Salicylates; Teratogens

Associations between drug consumption during pregnancy and the birth of children with oral clefts were studied in material from the Finnish Register of Congenital Malformations, consisting of 599 children with clefts and their matched controls. Information concerning maternal drug consumption was partly prospective. During the first trimester, analgesic, chemotherapeutic and antineurotic drugs had all been significantly more frequently used by the mothers of children with clefts, than by the control mothers. The consumption of drugs was in general more frequent among mothers of children with cleft lip, with or without cleft palate, than among those of children with cleft palate alone.

Topics: Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; Analgesics; Anticonvulsants; Chloramphenicol; Cleft Lip; Cleft Palate; Diazepam; Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; Female; Fetus; Finland; Humans; Insulin; Iron; Penicillins; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Trimester, First; Salicylates; Sulfonamides; Tetracycline; Vitamins

Topics: Animals; Antimetabolites; Cell Differentiation; Cleft Lip; Cleft Palate; Dermoid Cyst; Eye Neoplasms; Face; Female; Glucocorticoids; Humans; Male; Mandibulofacial Dysostosis; Mice; Mice, Inbred A; Micrognathism; Morphogenesis; Phenobarbital; Pregnancy; Rats; Salicylates; Sex Factors; Stress, Mechanical; Thalidomide; Uvula

Topics: Abnormalities, Drug-Induced; Abnormalities, Multiple; Anencephaly; Arm; Cleft Lip; Cleft Palate; Craniofacial Dysostosis; Drug Interactions; Female; Fetus; Fingers; Foot Deformities, Congenital; Gestational Age; Hand Deformities, Congenital; Heart Defects, Congenital; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Male; Maternal-Fetal Exchange; Metacarpus; Pregnancy; Salicylates; Thumb; Toes; Umbilical Cord; Urethra