About the Iowa Center for Birth Defects Research and Prevention
Our study area includes all 99 Iowa counties, representing a total population of more than 3,000,000 people that is increasing each year. Iowa’s population covers over 55,000 square miles with a strong mix of urban and rural residents. This population mix shows differences in personal behaviors, such as smoking and alcohol use, and places Iowans at increased opportunity for exposure to agricultural chemicals and environmental contaminants. These were motivating factors in establishing the Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders (IRCID). Annually, IRCID monitors more than 38,000 live births and fetal deaths. Each year, over 1500 pregnancies are affected by birth defects in Iowa.
The Iowa Center has considerable expertise in studying personal behaviors, as well as chemicals and contaminants as risk factors for birth defects. The Iowa Center has also been a leader in studying genes that contribute to birth defects. For BD-STEPS, we will continue to examine the impact of personal behaviors and environmental exposures, along with the influence of genes, on the development of birth defects.
Team
Dr. Paul Romitti, PhD
Principal Investigator
Dr. Paul Romitti is a Professor of Epidemiology at The University of Iowa. Dr. Romitti directs IRCID and our Iowa Center. He has worked with the IRCID since 1989, initially as a doctoral trainee and later as a National Institutes of Health-sponsored postdoctoral fellow. Dr. Romitti has directed IRCID since 1999 and the Iowa Center since 2002.
Dr. Romitti’s research interests are in conducting studies of environmental exposures and genetic susceptibilities for adverse reproductive outcomes, particularly craniofacial and musculoskeletal defects. He has also conducted a number of investigations related to study methods, as well as long-term follow-up of children with birth defects and genetic disorders to examine treatment outcomes, other conditions they might have, and quality of life
Our work with the BD-STEPS in Iowa will continue to span all 99 counties, and our proposed research will bring together national and international collaborators from across the country to identify risk factors for major birth defects. Identifying these risk factors will help us to develop interventions to prevent them.
Dr. Paul Romitti
Notable Research Findings
The following are selected examples of important research publications led by the Iowa Center.
Kutbi H, Wehby GL, Moreno Uribe LM, Romitti PA, Carmichael S, Shaw GM, Olshan AF, DeRoo L, Rasmussen SA, Murray JC, Wilcox A, Lie RT, Munger RG. (2017) Maternal underweight and obesity and risk of orofacial clefts in a large international consortium of population-based studies. Int J Epidemiol 46:190-199.
Suhl J, Romitti PA, Rocheleau C, Cao Y, Burns TL, Conway K, Bell EM, Stewart P, Langlois P, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2018) Parental occupational pesticide exposure and nonsyndromic orofacial clefts. J Occup Environ Hyg 15:641-653.
Weyer P, Rhoads A, Suhl J, Luben TJ, Conway KM, Langlois PH, Shen D, Liang D, Puzhankara S, Anderka M, Bell E, Feldkamp MC, Hoyt AT, Mosley B, Reefhuis J, Romitti PA, National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2018) Drinking water disinfection byproducts and risk of orofacial clefts in the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. Birth Defects Res 110:1027-1042.
Justice CM, Cuellar A, Bala K, Sabourin JA, Cunningham ML, Crawford K, Phipps JM, Zhou Y, Cilliers D, Byren JC, Johnson D, Wall SA, Morton JEV, Noons P, Sweeney E, Weber A, Rees KEM, Wilson LC, Simeonov E, Kaneva R, Yaneva N, Georgiev K, Bussarsky A, Senders C, Zwienenberg M, Boggan J, Roscioli T, Tamburrini G, Barba M, Conway K, Sheffield VC, Brody L, Mills JL, Kay D, Sicko RJ, Langlois PH, Tittle RK, Botto LD, Jenkins MM, LaSalle JM, Lattanzi W, Wilkie AOM, Wilson AF†, Romitti PA†, Boyadjiev SA†, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2020) A genome-wide association study implicates the BMP7 locus as a risk factor for nonsyndromic metopic craniosynostosis. †co-senior authors Hum Genet, 139:1077-1090.
Cao Y, Rhoads A, Burns TL, Carnahan R, Conway KM, Werler MM, Mitchell A, Romitti PA and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2021) Maternal use of cough medications during early pregnancy and selected birth defects: a USA, multisite case-control study. BMJ Open 11 e053604.
Pitsava G, Feldkamp ML, Pankratz N, Lane J, Kay DM, Conway KM, Shaw GM, Reefhuis J, Jenkins MM, Almli LM, Olshan AF, Pangilinan F, Brody LC, Sicko RJ, Hobbs CA, McGoldrick D, Nickerson DA, Finnell RH, Mullikin J, Romitti PA†, Mills JL†, University of Washington Center for Mendelian Genomics, NISC
Comparative Sequencing Program and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2021) Exome sequencing of child-parent trios with bladder exstrophy: Findings in 26 children. †co-senior authors Am J Med Genet A 185:3028-3041.
Finn J, Suhl J, Kancherla V, Conway KM, Oleson J, Sidhu A, Nestoridi E, Fisher SC, Rasmussen SA, Yang W, Romitti PA and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2022) Maternal cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption and congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Birth Defects Res 114:746-758.
Palmsten K, Suhl J, Conway KM, Kharbanda EO, Ailes EC, Cragan JD, Nestoridi E, Papadopoulos EA, Kerr SM, Young SG, DeStefano F, Romitti PA and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2022) Influenza vaccination during pregnancy and risk of selected major structural non-cardiac birth defects, National Birth Defects Prevention Study 2006-2011. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf 31:851-862.
Pitsava G, Feldkamp ML, Pankratz N, Lane J, Kay DM, Conway KM, Hobbs C, Shaw GM, Reefhuis J, Jenkins MM, Almli LM, Moore C, Werler M, Browne ML, Cunniff C, Olshan AF, Pangilinan F, Brody LC, Sicko RJ, Finnell RH, Bamshad MJ, McGoldrick D, Nickerson DA, Mullikin JC, Romitti PA†, Mills JL† UW Center for Mendelian Genomics, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2022) Exome sequencing identifies variants in infants with sacral agenesis. †co-senior authors Birth Defects Res 114:215-227.
Suhl J, Conway KM, Rhoads A, Langlois PH, Feldkamp ML, Michalski AM, Oleson J, Sidhu A, Kancherla V, Obrycki J, Mazumdar M, Romitti PA, and the National Birth Defects Prevention Study. (2022) Pre-pregnancy exposure to arsenic in diet and non-cardiac birth defects. Public Health Nutr 27:1-13.
Contact
Principal Investigator:
Paul Romitti, PhD
Professor of Epidemiology
University of Iowa
Phone: 319-335-4503