Prevalence, Detection of Orofacial Clefts

In trying to evaluate whether there have been any changes in the prevalence or antenatal detection of clefts, researchers have found no change in prevalence of the Nova Scotia population but cite improved detection. Their study is published in the latest issue of The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal. 

Clefts are the most frequent birth defect in the United States, affecting nearly 7,000 children each year, or 1 in every 600 newborns. They may be visible by diagnostic imaging techniques as early as the first trimester, when fusion of the facial prominences and palatal shelves occurs. Clefts of the lip and primary palate have been diagnosed antenatally with 2-dimensional ultrasonography for several decades. In the study, 225 fetuses were identified as having orofacial clefts. The overall prevalence of clefts was 2.1 in 1,000 live births, and this prevalence did not change with time. The overall antenatal detection of cleft lip with or without cleft palate was 23%. However, there was improvement in detection of cleft lip with or without cleft palate from the years 1992 to 1996 (14%) to the years 1997 to 2002 (30%). No isolated cleft palates were detected antenatally. 

Overall, the prevalence of orofacial clefts in Nova Scotia has not changed from 1992 to 2002. The proportion of antenatally diagnosed cleft lip with or without cleft palate in Nova Scotia is consistent with rates reported in the literature and has increased from 1992 to 2002.