Ozone and other air pollutants and the risk of oral clefts

BACKGROUND: Air pollution influences the development of oral clefts in animals. There are few epidemiologic data on the relation of prenatal air pollution exposure and the risk of oral clefts. OBJECTIVES: Our goal in this study was to assess the relations between exposure to ambient air pollution and the risk of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P). METHODS: We conducted a population-based case-control study of all 653 cases of CUP and a random sample of 6,530 control subjects from 721,289 Taiwanese newborns in 2001-2003. We used geographic information systems to form exposure parameters for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <= 10 mu m (PM to) during the first 3 months of pregnancy using inverse distance weighting method. We present the effect estimates as odds ratios (ORs) per 10-ppb change for SO2, NOx, and O-3, 100-ppb change for CO, and 10-mu g/m(3) change for PM10. RESULTS: The risk of CL/P was increased in relation to 03 levels in the first gestational month [adjusted OR = 1.20; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.39] and second gestational month (adjusted OR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.03-1.52) in the range from 16.7 ppb to 45.1 ppb, but was not related to CO, NOx, SO2 or PM10. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides new evidence that exposure to outdoor air O-3 during the first and second month of pregnancy may increase the risk of CL/P. Similar levels Of O-3 are encountered globally by large numbers of pregnant women.