Pattern of Orofacial Clefts at A Tertiary Care Hospital in Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Clefts of the lip and/or palate are the most common craniofacial birth defects. The worldwide birth prevalence is 1/700 live births. There are varying reports from Africa. This study investigated the patterns of orofacial clefts at a tertiary care hospital in Addis Ababa. METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study was performed to assess the patterns of Orofacial clefts at the main cleft care center in Ethiopia. The Data of cleft patients operated at the main cleft care center in Ethiopia from January 2007 to April 2020 with the support of Smile Train was used for this study. Their demographic and clinical data was retrieved from the Smile Train data base and analyzed using Stata version 16. RESULTS: A total of 1919 patients' data was retrieved, excluding 16 patients' data (.83%). The data of 1903 (99.17%) patients were enrolled in this study. Cleft lip and palate were found in 53.0% of the patients. Cleft lip only was found in 731 (38.4%) and cleft palate only in 166 (8.6%) patients. The commonest surgery performed was primary unilateral lip nose repair. Most patients were operated after the age of five years old. CONCLUSION: Many were operated after the age of five years, which is not in line with international recommendations. This needs improvement: establish more cleft care centers, distribute health care information and education.