Bilateral asymmetry in Chinese families with cleft lip with or without cleft palate

To determine if Chinese individuals with nonsyndromic cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P) display more bilateral asymmetry than do their unaffected relatives.

A case-control study of 313 individuals with CL/P from Shanghai, China, with 201 unaffected relatives as controls.

Size-adjusted asymmetry scores were defined by data on middle-finger length, palm length, palpebral fissure width, and ear length. Case-control comparisons used a multivariate repeated measures analysis of variance, paired t tests, and the Wilcoxon signed rank test.

The ear-length measure showed a significant increase in fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in individuals with CL/P compared with their unaffected relatives, which was most pronounced in the female cleft lip and palate subgroup (p = .04). No other measures showed any increase in FA.

Evidence was found for increased FA, as measured by overall ear length, in Chinese individuals with nonsyndromic CL/P, compared with their unaffected family members. The use of bilateral measurements other than dermatoglyphics may prove to be a valuable means of assessing overall developmental stability in individuals with developmental malformations and in their families.