Cleft lip/palate and educational attainment: cause, consequence or correlation? A Mendelian randomization study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Previous studies have found that children born with a non-syndromic orofacial cleft have lower-than-average educational attainment. Differences could be due to a genetic predisposition to low intelligence and academic performance, factors arising due to the cleft phenotype (such as social stigmatization, impaired speech/language development) or confounding by the prenatal environment. A clearer understanding of this mechanism will inform interventions to improve educational attainment in individuals born with a cleft, which could substantially improve their quality of life. We assessed evidence for the hypothesis that common variant genetic liability to non-syndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (nsCL/P) influences educational attainment.

Methods

We perf

SUBMITTER: Dardani C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7660147 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature