ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Orofacial clefts (OFCs) are the most common craniofacial congenital anomalies, and its prevalence is highest among Asian populations. The aim of this retrospective case-control study is to evaluate the effect of parental consanguinity on the frequency of OFCs at Jordan University Hospital over a 15-year-period. The study group consists of all patients with OFCs presented to the major tertiary referral center in Jordan during the last 15âyears, along with age and gender-matched controls. The authors analyzed the risk of different predictors, including consanguinity, on the development of OFCs, both cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) and cleft palate only. A total of 332 participants were included in this study, with a mean age of 74.36 (±48.75) months. The authors included 129 (38.9%) OFCs, and 203 (61.1%) controls. The percentage of parental consanguinity among OFCs group was 41.1%, compared to only 24.1% for controls, a difference that was statistically significant (Pâ=â0.001). On logistic regression analysis, the authors found that parental consanguinity is a significant predictor for the occurrence of OFCs (Pâ=â0.007), where people with consanguineous marriage have 2 times higher risk (odds ratio of 0.504, with 95% confidence interval 0.306-0.830) to have offspring with OFCs. Moreover, lower birth weight babies are also significantly more associated with OFCs (Pâ=â0.014), with an odds ratio of 1.819 (95% confidence interval 1.131 2.926). Among the Jordanian population, the authors found that consanguinity and lower birth weight were the only variables significantly associated with the development of OFCs.
