ABSTRACT
Background: Aim: To assess prevalence pattern of cleft lip and palate and to assess the etiological risk factors like history of consanguinity, familial tendency and socio – economic status in children with cleft lip and/or palate. Methods:Case records (N=821) of patients with cleft lip and palate were accessed to collect the data. The following information was collected: Age, Gender, Education, Occupation and Income of the parent, History of consanguinity, Familial tendency and Chief complaint/s. The SPSS software was used for the statistical analysis to do the chi-square test and significance level adopted was 5% (P < 0.05). Results: Orofacial clefting was more common in males and laterality of cleft lip occurred more on the left side. The familial tendency was present only in 3% cases. The history of consanguinity was present in 35.7% cases. The socio – economic deprivation was prominent in cleft cases and values depicted statistical significance. Conclusion: Higher risk of orofacial clefting was seen in consanguineous relations and in families with socio – economic deprivation