Parental Pesticidal Exposure and Risk of Clefts in the Craniofacial Region: A Case-Control Study in South India.

ABSTRACT

Objective: The multifactorial etiology of cleft can be due to environmental factors or genetic factors or combination of both. Many studies were conducted to detect the epidemiology of the clefts and the genetic factors causing clefts. There is no or very less studies conducted in India to identify the risk of pesticidal exposure in occurrence of nonsyndromic clefts. The present study is to investigate the risk of parental pesticidal exposure in causing clefts in the craniofacial region. Methods: The case-control study included 179 cases of cleft in the craniofacial region and 200 healthy controls matched for age and gender. The data were collected in the proforma from the study group in the departments of plastic surgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Paediatrics of Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. Result: Majority (55.3%) of the parents from the cleft group were exposed to pesticides but only 4.5% parents of the control group were exposed which is statistically significant (p=0.001). Compared to other cleft group, more parents of cleft lip palate exposed to pesticides was also significant (p=0.041).The cleft cases which were exposed to pesticides (86%) were from the rural area and the controls which were not exposed (79%) were from the urban area and is statistically significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: Parental pesticidal exposure is a risk factor for clefts in the craniofacial region. Among all the clefts, the risk is increased for the cleft lip palate.