Abstract
Background: Clefting of the lip, cleft palate, or both is the most common oro-facial congenital malformation found among live births. Objective: To determine the birth prevalence of cleft lip and palate in Arar city, KSA. To ascertain whether the birth prevalence in this region differs significantly from birth prevalence reported in similar populations. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Arar children's and maternity hospital to find the birth prevalence of oro-facial clefts, whither it is cleft lip only, cleft palate only or cleft lip and palate, during the period from 1 January, 2018 to 31 December, 2019. We included all the births in the study time in our data. The data elements reviewed were the cleft type, mother's age at birth time, sex of the infant, and presence of other anomalies. The cleft types were classified as CL (right, left, or bilateral), CL and CP (right, left, bilateral), or CP (complete, incomplete). Results: During the period of data collection we recorded 17 case of cleft lip and palate, 9 males (52.9%) and 8 females (47.1). We found that the annual incidence of cleft lip and Palate among infants was 0.30%. In our study, cleft lip alone was observed more often than combined cleft lip and cleft palate or isolated cleft palate with the percentage of (64.7%, 17.6% and 17.6%) respectively. The unilateral left sided was found in 41.2% and it was more commonly involved in the cleft lip and\or palate related anomalies than the unilateral right sided cleft which was detected in 35.3% and the bilateral clefts. In our study combined cleft lip and palate was found in a complete form in 3\17 cases, 2 of them were unilateral and the other one was bilateral. Incidence of cleft lip only was 13\17 cases (76.4%). Complete cleft lip was detected in 6\17 cases, 3 of them were unilateral and the other 3 cases were bilateral whereas, cleft palate only was found in one case in an incomplete form. In our study consanguinity between parents was found in 17.6% of the cases (3\17). A positive family history for an orofacial cleft was seen in 3 of 17 patients (17.6 percent), reinforcing the strong familial genetic association seen in these conditions. In our study 88.2% of the cases had surgical treatment and the outcome of the treatment was excellent in 5.9%, very good in 29.4% and good in 41.2%.Conclusion: In our study, the annual incidence of cleft lip and Palate among infants was 0.30%. Health education of the mothers to teratogenic factors during pregnancy and to avoid consanguinity marriage must be conducted