Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;24(9):635-40.
doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2014.06.005. Epub 2014 Jul 8.

First-trimester nonsystemic corticosteroid use and the risk of oral clefts in Norway

Hildur Skuladottir  1 , Allen Wilcox  2 , Robert McConnaughey  3 , Hallvard Vindenes  4 , Rolv T Lie  5
Affiliations

First-trimester nonsystemic corticosteroid use and the risk of oral clefts in Norway

Hildur Skuladottir et al. Ann Epidemiol. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose: Exposure of pregnant mice to corticosteroids can produce oral clefts in offspring. Although data in humans are more mixed, recent reports have suggested that dermatologic steroids are associated with oral clefts.

Methods: We investigated maternal first-trimester exposure to corticosteroids (focusing on dermatologic uses) and oral clefts in offspring using two population-based studies. The Norway Cleft Study (1996-2001) is a national case-control study including 377 infants with cleft lip ± palate (CLP), 196 infants with cleft palate only (CPO), and 763 controls. The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa, 1998-2008) is a national birth cohort including 123 infants with CLP, 61 infants with CPO, and 551 controls.

Results: In the case-control study, there was the suggestion of an association of dermatologic corticosteroids with both CLP (adjusted OR [aOR], 2.3; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-7.7) and CPO (aOR, 3.4; CI, 0.87-13). There was no evidence of this association in the cohort data (odds ratio for CLP, 1.2; CI, 0.50-2.8 and odds ratio for CPO, 1.0; CI, 0.30-3.4), although exposure to dermatologic steroids was less specifically ascertained. There were no associations with other types of corticosteroids.

Conclusions: Our data add to the suggestive but inconsistent findings for this association.

Keywords: Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Corticosteroids; Maternal exposure; Moba; Pregnancy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Association of risk of delivering an infant with cleft lip and palate (CLP) and cleft palate only (CPO) among women in the Norway Cleft Study who reported using corticosteroids during the first-trimester of pregnancy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary of previous and current studies on dermatological corticosteroid use and risk of oral clefts. *Estimates in the study by Hviid and Molgaard-Nielsen reflects estimates for CLP.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fraser FC, Fainstat TD. Production of congenital defects in the offspring of pregnant mice treated with cortisone: Progress report. Pediatrics 1951. 1951 Oct 1;8(4):527–33. - PubMed
    1. Walker BE, Fraser FC. The Embryology of Cortisone-induced Cleft Palate. Journal of Embryology and Experimental Morphology 1957. 1957 Jun;5(2):201–9.
    1. Carmichael SL, Shaw GM. Maternal corticosteroid use and risk of selected congenital anomalies. Am J Med Genet. 1999;86(3):242–4. - PubMed
    1. Carmichael SL, Shaw GM, Ma C, Werler MM, Rasmussen SA, Lammer EJ. Maternal corticosteroid use and orofacial clefts. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2007;197(6):585, e1–e7. - PubMed
    1. Källén B. Maternal drug use and infant cleft lip/palate with special reference to corticoids. The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal 2003. 2003 Nov 01;40(6):624–8. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances