Laterality of Oral Clefts and Academic Achievement

Emily R Gallagher; Brent R Collett; Sheila Barron; Paul Romitti; Timothy Ansley; George L Wehby

doi:10.1542/peds.2016-2662

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Laterality of Oral Clefts and Academic Achievement

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Laterality of Oral Clefts and Academic Achievement

Emily R Gallagher, Brent R Collett, Sheila Barron, Paul Romitti, Timothy Ansley and George L Wehby

Pediatrics (Evanston), Vol.139(2), p.e20162662

02/2017

DOI: 10.1542/peds.2016-2662

PMCID: PMC5260154

PMID: 28053221

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Abstract

Children with isolated oral clefts have lower academic performance when compared with unaffected peers, yet few studies have examined specific attributes of clefts that may modify this risk. Oral clefts have nonrandom laterality, with left-sided clefts being more common than right-sided clefts, a pattern that may be genetically or environmentally influenced. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between cleft laterality and academic achievement in a population-based sample of children with and without isolated oral clefts. The study included 292 children with isolated unilateral cleft lip with or without cleft palate identified by using the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders matched with 908 unaffected classmates. This group provided 1953 child-grade observations for cases and 6829 for classmates. Academic achievement was evaluated by using high-quality standardized test data on multiple academic domains as well as use of special education. We found that children with right-sided clefts had similar achievement scores and usage of special education services compared with their unaffected classmates. Children with left-sided clefts had lower reading scores than children with right-sided clefts by nearly 7 percentiles (P < .05). They also had lower scores on all evaluated domains by 4 to 6 percentiles and greater use of special education services by 6 percentage points than their classmates. Children with left-sided clefts had poorer academic performance than their classmates or children with right-sided clefts, who showed similar academic achievement compared with their unaffected classmates.

Cleft Palate - diagnosis

Cleft Lip - diagnosis

Cross-Sectional Studies

Cleft Lip - epidemiology

Humans

Peer Group

Male

Reference Values

Educational Status

Functional Laterality

Iowa

Adolescent

Female

Registries

Cleft Palate - epidemiology

Child

Details

Title: Subtitle: Laterality of Oral Clefts and Academic Achievement
Creators: Emily R Gallagher - Departments of Pediatrics and
Brent R Collett - Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Child Psychiatry at Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Sheila Barron - Iowa Testing Programs, and
Paul Romitti - Departments of Epidemiology
Timothy Ansley - Psychological and Quantitative Foundations, and
George L Wehby - National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Pediatrics (Evanston), Vol.139(2), p.e20162662
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2016-2662
PMID: 28053221
PMCID: PMC5260154
NLM abbreviation: Pediatrics
ISSN: 1098-4275
eISSN: 1098-4275
Publisher: American Academy of Pediatrics; United States
Grant note: R03 DE022094 / NIDCR NIH HHS
Language: English
Date published: 02/2017
Academic Unit: Preventive and Community Dentistry; Health Management and Policy; Epidemiology; Economics; Biostatistics; Public Policy Center (Archive); Psychological and Quantitative Foundations
Record Identifier: 9983995045402771

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