Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence, cleft types distribution and etiological risk factors among newly born babies with cleft lip and/or palate (CL +/- P) in four governorate of the Arab Republic of Egypt, beginning the 1st of January 2013 till the 31st of December 2013. Material and Methods: Total 237,783 newly born babies from Cairo (162174), Aswan (42880), Luxor (32729), and New Valley (877) governorate in the Arab Republic of Egypt were included in this study. Incidence of CL +/- P babies per 1000 births was calculated in each district for the four studied governorates. Percentage distribution of cleft types within each governorate. Chi-square test was used for determining significance of difference of incidence and percentages within and between the governorates. Results: The mean prevalence value of CL +/- P in the four Egyptian studied governorates was 0.40/1000. The highest percentage of cleft type was cleft lip and palate followed by cleft lip and isolated cleft palate. The highest etiological risk factor was maternal passive smoking in the four studied governorates followed by consanguineous marriage and medicine intake during pregnancy. Conclusion: These data provided a picture of the prevalence of CL +/- P in four different governorate of Egypt and also provided a useful reference for cleft types distribution and etiological risk factors of CL +/- P data in Egypt and internationally.