Abstract:
Background: Cleft Lip (CL) and Cleft Palate (CP) are holes or splits inside the
upper lip and roof of the mouth (palate). These are the most prevalent congenital
abnormalities of the head and neck and mainly occur when the facial structure of a
growing child does not fully close. This study aimed to examine the determinants of
cleft lip and cleft palate in children admitted at CURE Ethiopia Children’s Hospital.
Methods: In this study, the data were collected from 544 children and related fami
lies cleft lip and palate patients using the cross-sectional study design. A bivariate
multinomial regression model was employed to examine the determinants of cleft lip
and cleft palate. Parameter estimation and inference association to the model were
performed based on the Bayesian method.
Results: Among the study participants, unilateral, bilateral, and median cleft lip
types of birth defects were observed on 360 (66.17%), 118 (21.69%) and 66 (12.13%)
children, respectively. Also, 143(26.28 %) , 83 (15.25%) and 318 (58.45%) children
were with muscular/soft, bony/hard and both (soft and hard) parts of the cleft palate,
respectively. The results suggests that mothers consumption of alcohol for unilateral
(OR =1.127; 95% CI: 1.066, 5.546) was significant predictors for cleft lip. On the
other hand, mothers consumption of alcohol for bony/hard part (OR = 1.701; 95%
CI: 1.286, 5.680) was significant predictors for cleft Palate at 5% level of confidence.
The choice of prior distributions significantly impact the posterior distributions.
Conclusion: In this study, alcohol consumption during pregnancy, maternal folic acid
deficiency, history of birth defects, poor antenatal care service, and other variables
were the risk factors for the prevalence of cleft lip and cleft palate in children. There
fore, in order to decrease the occurrence of these defects, special attention should be
paid to specific population groups by raising awareness of the risk factors.
