Association of microtia with maternal obesity and periconceptional folic acid use.
The study objective was to examine the association of microtia with maternal intake of folic-acid-containing supplements and obesity. The study data included deliveries from 1997 to 2005 from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Non-syndromic cases of microtia were compared to non-malformed, population-based liveborn control infants, by estimating adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from logistic regression models that included maternal race/ethnicity, education, and study site. Maternal obesity was only weakly associated with microtia. Maternal periconceptional intake of folic-acid-containing vitamin supplements reduced the risk for microtia, but only among non-obese women (OR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.44-0.91). The reduced risk was stronger when analyses were restricted to isolated cases (OR: 0.51; 95% CI: 0.34-0.77), and it was independent of the level of maternal dietary folate intake. Adjusting for maternal race/ethnicity did not reveal alternative interpretations of this association. This analysis suggests that maternal periconceptional intake of folic-acid-containing supplements may provide protection from microtia for non-obese women.
California Research Division, March of Dimes Foundation, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, 5700 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. cma@marchofdimes.com
Chen
C
Ma
Suzan L
SL
Carmichael
Angela E
AE
Scheuerle
Mark A
MA
Canfield
Gary M
GM
Shaw
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000209:etiology; D065817:Congenital Microtia; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004423:Ear / Q000002:abnormalities; D005260:Female; D005492:Folic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D009765:Obesity / Q000473:pathology*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy
D005492:Folic Acid