Abstract
Objectives: Malnutrition is a characteristic feature of cleft lip with or without palate (CL/P). This study aims to retrospectively quantify the physical growth status, evaluate the feeding methods, and identify the possible correlation of CL/P types with growth failure.Methods: The length and weight of 508 infants with CL/P and 118 healthy infants were recorded at the date of admission. The weight-for-age (W/A), length-for-age (L/A), and body mass index-for-age (BMI) of the infants were calculated.Results: The L/A values were significantly lower in the infants with cleft lip (CL, 123 cases) and cleft lip with palate (CLP, 122 cases) than those of the control infants (p < 0.01). The W/A values of the infants with CP (263 cases) and CLP were significantly lower than those of the control infants (p < 0.05). However, the BMI index was not significantly different between any of the studied groups and the controls. In the mixed feeding group, the infants with CL and CP showed significantly lower L/A (p < 0.05) and W/A (p < 0.05), respectively.Conclusion: Physical growth issues were more common in the infants with CP and CLP. Because this was a retrospective study, the foods supplied to the patients were not strictly uniform, therefore, a prospective study with unified food supplement may be needed to confirm these findings.
Highlights
Cleft lip with or without palate (CL/P) patients are a group of congenital maxillofacial malformations that include patients with cleft lip only (CL), cleft palate only (CP), and cleft lip together with cleft palate (CLP) [1]
The z-scores and P-value of the mean W/A were significantly lower in the infants with CP supplied with semi-solid food than those without semi-solid food (p < 0.01), respectively. These results suggested that the supplementation of semi-solid food to the diet prior to cleft palate repair might influence weight gain
Much of the results regarding the physical growth impact of CL/P has been calculated using the data from a decade ago, all of which were calculated using the old indices of average weight and average length [7,8,9,10]
Summary
Cleft lip with or without palate (CL/P) patients are a group of congenital maxillofacial malformations that include patients with cleft lip only (CL), cleft palate only (CP), and cleft lip together with cleft palate (CLP) [1]. The incidence of CL/P is around 1–2/1,000 of births [2], while the incidence rate of CL and CLP in China are 5.03/10,000 and 8.97/10,000, respectively [3]. The prevalence of CL/P in Shanghai in China is 9.37/10,000 [4]. 3,800 patients with CL/P died globally in 1980–2017 [5]. Due to the presence of palate and/or maxillary defects before cleft-restoration surgery, these patients often have feeding issues and airway infections, resulting in malnutrition and developmental delays, including slow growth and weight gain.
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