[The epidemiology of cleft lip and palate over the period 1990-2004 in Asturias].
BACKGROUND
Cleft lip and palate (oral clefts) are the most common congenital facial defects.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence of oral clefts and to describe the associated malformations in a geographically defined population.


METHODS
Data from the Asturias Registry of Congenital Defects were used to investigate the epidemiology of congenital facial clefts over the period 1990-2004 among the 103,452 births in the region. The results were also compared with data from EUROCAT and other Spanish registries.


RESULTS
Out of 145 oral clefts recorded, cleft lip was 26.9%, cleft lip and palate 28.3% and cleft palate 44.8%. Total prevalence of oral clefts was 14.4 per 10,000 births. Other associated defects were found in 18.6% of the total cases, with skeletal, cardiovascular and central nervous systems being the the most common anomalies. Syndromes or sequences were found in 22% of clefts. A prenatal diagnosis was made in 12.4%.


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of oral clefts in Asturias over this period fell within the range reported for other European registries. An exhaustive prenatal ultrasound and examination of the affected newborns to look for other malformations should be considered in infants with clefts, due to the high association with them.
Rodríguez Dehli
C
C
Hospital San Agustín, Avilés, Asturias, España. crdehli@yahoo.es
Mosquera Tenreiro
C
C
García López
E
E
Fernández Toral
J
J
Rodríguez Fernández
A
A
Riaño Galán
I
I
Ariza Hevia
F
F
D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors