Epidemiology and Associated Factors of Cleft Lip and/or Palate at Sunpasitthiprasong Hospital, Ubonrachathani

Abstract

Cleft lips and/or palates are one of the international and national public health problems. The objectives of retrospective descriptive design were to study the epidemiology of cleft lip and cleft palate, characteristics of the distribution of patients with cleft lip and cleft palate by time, person, and to examine the factors that related the occurrence of cleft lip and cleft palate. The sample consisted of 733 patients with cleft lip and/or palate who received treatment at Sunpasitthiprasong hospital, Ubon Ratchathani, between 2006-2022. The patients ‘age was from birth to 20 years. All patients’ data were complete treatment history information as intended. The distribution of patients with cleft lip and cleft palate was analyzed with descriptive statistics, and related factors for disease using Chi-square statistics. The statistical significance level was set at the .05 level.

The results found that 377 children born with cleft lip and/or cleft palate had the highest incidence of the disease in 2007 (1.79 per 1,000 live births), followed by 2008 (1.70 per 1,000 live births) and 2019 (1.46 per 1,000 live births), respectively. The lowest incidence of disease was found in 2014 (0.75 per 1,000 live births). Distribution of disease according to personal characteristics and the factors associated with the disease were found to be gender, mother's gestational age before birth, father's age, mother's age, birth order, mother's history of drug use during pregnancy that had a statistically significant relationship with the occurrence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Therefore, the health care services for pregnant women should focus on enhancing knowledge during pregnancy about related factors that can be prevented cleft lip and/or cleft palate. Moreover, caring and helping newborns with cleft lip and palate problems might be improve their quality of life.