The impact of changing cigarette smoking habits and smoke-free legislation on orofacial cleft incidence in the United Kingdom: Evidence from two time-series studies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Both active and passive cigarette smoking have previously been associated with orofacial cleft aetiology. We aimed to analyse the impact of declining active smoking prevalence and the implementation of smoke-free legislation on the incidence of children born with a cleft lip and/or palate within the United Kingdom.

Methods and findings

We conducted regression analysis using national administrative data in the United Kingdom between 2000-2018. The main outcome measure was orofacial cleft incidence, reported annually for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and separately for Scotland. First, we conducted an ecological study with longitudinal time-series analysis using smoking prevalence data for females over 16 years of age. Second, we used a natural experiment desi

SUBMITTER: Fell M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8612573 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature