Epidemiology of Cleft Lip and Palate in Karaikal, India

Cleft lip and palate are common congenital anomalies that seem to have a higher prevalence in developing and undeveloped countries, where, very likely, poor diet and living conditions are contributing to their etiology.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate epidemiological characteristics of individuals affected with orofacial cleft (OFC).

METHODS: Our sample comprised 274 individuals (145 males and 129 females) affected with OFC who presented to the Vinayaka Mission Medical College and Hospital in Karaikal, India, during the Rotaplast Medical Missions in 2004 & 2005. The diagnostic spectrum and the interview data were evaluated. A personal interview with each mother included demographics, living conditions, birth weight and length, socio-economic status, pregnancy history, mother's and father's medical history, and information about nutrition and life style.

RESULTS: The vast majority of our patients (n=226; 82.48%) were affected with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Only 20 patients (7.3%) presented with isolated cleft palate and 28 (10.22%) with various syndromes. Cleft lip and palate was the most common diagnosis (53.65%).

The mean age of patients was 12.78 years (SD = 9.2; the oldest was 45 years old and the youngest was 1.5 months). Only 16.06% of our patients lived in a city, the majority lived in a village (67.88%). Most of our patients were born in the hospital (62.87%) by vaginal delivery (79.64%), 9.58% by Cesarean section and 2.99% by forceps. 52 patients (32.1%) were first-born. Mean maternal age was 24.2 years (SD=5.7)

CONCLUSION: Epidemiological characteristics of the Karaikal population of individuals affected with OFC will serve as baseline information for planning of health services and as background information for further genetic studies, specifically for comparison of epidemiological characteristics of cleft population with controls.

The fieldwork for this study was supported by Rotaplast International, Inc.