COVID-19 related risk factors and their association with non-syndromic orofacial clefts in five Arab countries: a case-control study.
Heba Jafar SabbaghRana Abdullah AlamoudiMohammad ZeinalddinTaimoor Al BulushiOla Barakat Al-BataynehMamdouh A AboulHassanMohamed KoraitimMaryam QuritumButhaina AlmuqbaliSultan Musaad AlghamdiShaimaa Mohsen RefaheeLateefa AlkharafiFatemah Fahad TaqiBader AlbassamMariam AyedAlia EmbaireegRaqiya AlnahdiMona Talal AlSharifFatma Dawood AbdulhameedAziza Johar AljoharNajla Sulaiman AlrejayeManal Ibrahim AlmalikP S ViswapurnaTamara Al HalasaMaha El TantawiPublished in: BMC oral health (2023)
This study suggests that NSOFC may be associated with maternal exposure to lifetime stress and COVID-19 fear in particular, with no direct effect of the COVID-19 infection itself. This highlights the importance of providing psychological support for expecting mothers during stressful events that affect populations such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to the usual antenatal care.