Study of risk factors related to the orofacial clefts in Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran: Population-based from 2000 to 2015

Background and aims: Nowadays, Orofacial clefts are known as the most common orofacial birth defects. Several factors are responsible for problem, such as environmental factors, genetic background, nutritional deficiencies such as Vitamins, zinc, iron, maternal diseases, exposure to teratogenicagents, smoking, drugs, organic solvents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the of risk factors frequency of orofacial clefts in our rigion. Methods: This is an epidemiological study with retrospective database including parent’s age, family history, medical and drug history in pregnancy, toxin exposure, urbanistic habituation and parent’s job. Results: A total of 670 patients with orofacial cleft were studied. Parents were in 15-35 years old range. The frequency of cleft history in parents was 12.7%. Passive smoking (7%) and depression were the most common predisposing factor and most common maternal disease, respectively. Amoxicillin was the most common drug used in pregnancy period. Most of patients (92.5%) did not live in high risk areas. The most common job in fathers was agricultural. Conclusion: Orofacial clefts are the multifactorial disease. Due to its prevention, there is a need to focus on the local risk factors to be able to reach further information to reduce its occurance rate and also to find a better way to reduce the related costs on both patients and healthcare system.