ISOLATED CLEFT PALATE – A CALL FOR ROUTINE GENETIC STUDIES IN LMICS otinimi@yahoo.com

PE071

ISOLATED CLEFT PALATE – A CALL FOR ROUTINE GENETIC STUDIES IN LMICS

4

Nigeria

Oral only

Isolated cleft palate is commonly associated with a genetic etiologic factor. It is also widely thought to be more common among females than males, and more likely to be associated with other congenital anomalies. Most data on cleft genetics have been carried out in high- income countries, with paucity of similar data from LMICs.

A review of all cleft surgeries carried out over a 10-year period was done. Data was obtained from the patients’ records and included the gender, type of cleft, and family history of cleft. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 22 and results presented as tables, charts and texts.

There was a total of 253 patients comprising of 131 (51.8%) patients with cleft lip only, 75 (29.6%) patients with cleft palate only, and 47 (18.6%) patients with cleft lip and palate. The gender distribution of the patients with isolated palatal cleft was 30 (40%) males and 45 (60%) females.

Isolated cleft palate occurred in almost a third of the study population, with as high as 40% of the patients with isolated cleft palate being males. None of the patients had any form of genetic test.. There is a need to establish routine cleft genomics in low and middle income countries, as this will address the disparity that exists and broaden the knowledge about cleft aetiology and prevention. Keywords: isolated cleft palate, cleft genomics, pattern of cleft