A comparative assessment of oral health-related quality of life of children born with orofacial clefts in Sudan and their caregivers'

BACKGROUND: Cleft lip and palate(CL/P)is the most common orofacial malformation affecting one in every 700–1000 newborns worldwide. The aim of the study wasto evaluate the impact of CL/P on health- related quality of life (OHRQoL) in Sudanese children and the level of concordance between caregivers' and children and to investigate correlates of the caregivers' perceptions of OHRQoL with that of their children. METHODS: The sample consisted of 75 children with clefts (age range 8–16 years), (46 male, 29 female) and their caregivers' attending University of Science and Technology Dental Teaching Hospital. The children and their caregivers' were interviewed separately. The interview consisted of 38 questions adopted from the COHIP (Arabic version).The level of concordance between caregivers' and children was compared using paired t-tests and intraclass correlations. Predictive validity was assessed using Pearson correlations and linear regression analyses. RESULTS: The translated COHIP and its subscales, had Cronbach' alphas score ranged between (0.65 and 0.75) for caregivers' and children with cleft. COHIP scores for children and caregivers' were (89.41 ± 19.97) and (94.34 ± 19.52) respectively. Caregivers' and children differed significantly in the overall COHIP and oral symptoms subscale. There were high correlations between caregivers' and children ranged from (0.63 to 0.87). The correlation between all subscales was statistically significant (p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers' had higher perceptions of oral symptoms and overall COHIP compared to their children using the Arabic version of the COHIP. Caregiver's reports have to be considered complementary to the reports of their children themselves.