Cleft lip with or without an associated cleft palate (CL/P) is one of the most common congenital birth defects. Both the frequency with which it occurs and the high psychosocial and financial costs associated with CL/P contribute to a significant public health interest in the condition. Defining the spectrum of disability associated with CL/P will serve to improve treatment planning and caregiver education and may inform efforts to describe the etiology of this complex trait.
The principal aim of this project was to test the hypothesis that significant olfactory dysfunction exists in individuals with repaired orofacial clefts (OFCs; cleft lip, with or without cleft palate ((CL/P) and isolated cleft palate (CP)) and their first degree relatives (FDRs). Two small studies and anecdotal reports suggest impaired olfaction in individuals with OFCs, but this is the first investigation of the olfactory phenotype in both cases and relatives. Genetic, physiologic, and developmental features of individuals with OFCs provide plausible explanations for this poorly explored phenomenon.
Methods: The widely used and extensively validated University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT) - a "scratch and sniff" 40 item odor discrimination test - was employed to describe olfactory ability in a sample of 12 subjects with non-syndromic CL/P or CP and 39 of their unaffected FDRs. Control data was obtained from published norms on over 2000 individuals. Standard non-parametric and categorical statistics were used to test for group differences in olfactory performance.
Results: The likelihood of having a smell deficit was increased nearly fivefold in the cases (OR=4.94; 95% CI 1.56-15.65) compared with controls. Similarly, the likelihood of having a smell deficit was increased nearly fourfold in the FDRs (OR=3.87; 95% CI 1.99-7.52) compared with controls. Cases scored significantly lower on the UPSIT compared with their FDRs (p<0.043), indicating that the olfactory deficit was greater in cases. This study provides the first evidence of olfactory deficits in the FDRs of OFC cases and confirms the existence of olfactory deficits in OFC patients.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04052011-102551 |
| Date | 29 June 2011 |
| Creators | May, Maureen A |
| Contributors | Robin Grubs, Seth M Weinberg, Mary Marazita, Mahmud M Barmada |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04052011-102551/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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