An audit of the Yorkshire Regional Cleft Database

This study assessed the validity of the Yorkshire regional orofacial cleft database by comparing the computer-based records with locally collated records of primary surgical events for babies born over a 2-year period (1994-1995). One-hundred-and-thirty-two infants with clefts (excluding submucous cleft palate) were identified from the latter source with an equal proportion of unilateral cleft lip/palate and isolated cleft palate births. However, only 62 per cent of cases were recorded on the database and the reporting rate of individual cleft units was highly variable (43-85 per cent). In addition, there was a significant under-reporting of both cleft lip and isolated cleft palate cases (42 and 50 per cent ascertainment, respectively). Consequently, the database figures understated the prevalence of all cleft births, but especially of these two cleft subtypes. Conversely, the relative frequency of combined cleft lip and palate cases was exaggerated. The reasons for such discrepancies and possible improvements to data collection are discussed.