title: Hospitalisations up to adulthood for children born with orofacial clefts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to compare hospital admissions from infancy to adulthood, between children born with orofacial clefts (OFC) and those without OFC.
  
  
  METHODS
  The method used was a cohort study using record-linked administrative datasets. Participants included all children liveborn in Western Australia (WA) between 1980 and 2010 diagnosed with OFC, who were frequency matched by year of birth to randomly selected liveborn children without OFC. We calculated rate ratios (RR) of hospital admission, number and reason of admissions, cumulative length of stay, for each cleft type (cleft lip only (CLO), cleft lip and palate (CL+P), cleft palate only (CPO), no OFC) and by age period (infancy, pre-school, primary and high school ages, and early adulthood).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 1396 children were diagnosed with an OFC and compared with 6566 children without OFC. Individuals born with OFC were up to three times more likely to be admitted to hospital, had more admissions and longer cumulative length of stay in all age periods. Children with OFC were also more likely to be admitted for ear and digestive system conditions (RR up to 30 and six times higher, respectively). Children with CL+P and CPO were more likely to be admitted for respiratory conditions (RR 1.3-2.0) and children with CPO were six times more likely to be admitted for care for other congenital anomalies.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Throughout childhood, individuals born with OFC were more likely to be admitted, and had more hospitalisations than those without OFC. Children born with CL+P or CPO had a higher hospitalisation burden than children born with CLO.
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Population Perinatal Health Research, Kolling Institute for Medical Research, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nassar
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.affiliation: Western Australian Register of Developmental Anomalies, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|Telethon Kids Institute, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bower
authors.affiliation: Cleft Lip and Palate and Craniomaxillofacial Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gillett
authors.affiliation: Cleft Lip and Palate and Craniomaxillofacial Unit, Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Wilma
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: McBain
authors.affiliation: Sydney School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Camille
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Raynes-Greenow
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014904:Western Australia
keywords: Western Australia; cleft lip; cleft palate; hospitalisations; medical record linkage