ABSTRACT
Cleft lip with or without cleft palate is the most common orofacial congenital anomaly among live births. This study was carried out to determine the incidence rate of oral clefting in Gorgan, North of Iran during 2004-2009. This descriptive hospital-based study was performed on 35,009 live newborns in Dezyani Hospital in Gorgan, Northern Iran during 2004-2009. All newborns were screened for oral clefts. Data including birth date, gender, type of oral clefts, parents' consanguinity, parental ethnicity and presence of other congenital anomalies were recorded for analysis. The overall incidence rate of oral clefts during this 6-year period was 1.05 per 1000, or 1 per 946 live births. The incidence of cleft lip and isolated cleft palate was 0.08 and 0.37 per 1,000 live births, respectively. The ratio for different cleft types was 1:7:4 [CL: CLP: CP]. The incidence of oral clefting was 1.2 per 1,000 male births and 0.86 per 1,000 female births [RR=1.40, 95%, CI: 0.73-2.71]. According to parental ethnicity, the incidence of oral clefting was 0.7, 1.7 and 1.26 per 1,000 in Native Fars, Turkman and Sistani, respectively. The relative risk for oral clefting in Turkman to native Fars group was 2.56 [p<0.02]. In this study, 56.7% of clefts were CL+P, 8.1% were CL and 35.1% of cases were CP. CP was more common among girls [54%] than for boys [46%] but CL was more common among boys. The results showed that the incidence of oral clefts in the study population as being at 1.05 per 1,000 live births, which nas increased from 0.97 per 1,000 live births reported in an earlier study in this area