Pattern of cleft lip and palate in Dar-es-Salaam

To analyse the pattern of cleft lip and palate patients managed at two hospitals in Dar-es-Salaam.

A retrospective descriptive study.

Muhimbili National Hospital and Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation Tanzania Disability Hospital which are special referral centres where most of the cleft lip and palate patients in Dar-es-Salaam are managed.

Two hundred and sixty nine patients were seen during the study period form January 2005 to December 2006.

A total of 269 patients with oral facial clefts were seen during the two year period. Cleft lip combined with cleft palate was the commonest cleft disorder accounting for 44.5% of cases followed by isolated cleft lip (38.3%) and cleft palate only (16.3%). Male patients predominated for unilateral clefts and there was a slight preponderance of 1.7:1. The majority of patients presented at an age of less than five years (60.2%) with an average age of nine months. Late presentation is still common and mainly attributed to ignorance, lack of access to health care facilities and financial constraints.

The pattern of oral-facial clefts does not differ much from other parts of Africa and emphasis should be made to increase public awareness and improve health care facilities to manage these patients effectively.