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To describe racial/ethnic patterns in oral cleft occurrence,
we looked at over 3,800 infants with oral clefts drawn from
2.2 million California births.
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Blacks had lower rates of oral clefts compared
to Whites. For cleft lip with/without cleft palate, the
difference was mainly in cases with no associated birth
defects. In cleft palate, there was a reduction across
all subtypes. |
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Hispanics had a lower rate of cleft palate
compared to Whites, both for isolated clefts and clefts
occurring as part of birth defects sequences. |
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Relative to their US-born counterparts,
the risk of cleft lip with/without cleft palate was slightly
lower among the offspring of foreign-born Chinese women.
Oral clefts were slightly higher among foreign-born Filipinas.
However, data is fairly sparse in these groups and differences
may simply be due to chance. |
Racial/ethnic differences may be caused by genetic variation
across groups. Cultural practices—including diet and
other habits—may influence environmental exposures during
pregnancy.
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