Growth impairment of children with different types of lip and palate clefts in the first 2 years of life: a cross-sectional study.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the differences in growth impairment according to sex in the 2 first years of life in children with three types of clefts.


METHODS
This was a cross-sectional study of 881 children (58.9% boys and 41.1% girls) with cleft lip and palate treated at the Craniofacial Anomaly Rehabilitation Hospital, (University of São Paulo, Bauru, SP), Brazil. Age ranged from 1 to 24 months. Three types of clefts were evaluated: isolated cleft lip (181/20.5%), isolated cleft palate (157/17.8%) and cleft lip + palate (543/61.6%). Weight and length measurements and data regarding breast-feeding and socioeconomic level were obtained. Children with weight and length below the 10th percentile of the NCHS reference were considered to have impaired growth.


RESULTS
Sample distribution according to cleft type and sex was similar to that observed in other epidemiological studies. Breast-feeding was more frequent in the isolated cleft lip group (45.9%) then in the isolated cleft palate (12.1%) or cleft lip + palate group (10.5%). Isolated cleft lip children showed less marked impairment of weight (23.8%) and length (19.3%) compared to the cleft lip + palate group (35.7% and 33.1%, respectively). In the latter group, the proportion of children with weight and length below the 10th percentile was very close to that of the isolated cleft palate group (34.4% and 38.9%).


CONCLUSIONS
The impairment in weight and length was more severe in cleft lip + palate and isolated cleft palate children and may be attributed to feeding difficulties compared to the isolated cleft lip group.
Montagnoli
Luiz C
LC
Craniofacial Anomaly Rehabilitation Hospital, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Bauru, SP, Brazil.
Barbieri
Marco A
MA
Bettiol
Heloisa
H
Marques
Ilza Lazarini
IL
de Souza
Luiz
L
D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D001942:Breast Feeding; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005183:Failure to Thrive / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors