[Epidemiology of cleft lip and cleft palate in China]

During a period of 12 months (Oct. 1986 to Sep. 1987), 1,243,284 live and still births were monitored in 945 hospitals of 29 provinces cities and autonomous regions of China. A total of 2,265 cases of cleft lip and cleft palate were recorded, of which cleft lip with cleft palate accounted for 61.3%, isolated cleft lip for 30.5% and isolated cleft palate for 8.2%. The incidence of cleft lip and cleft palate in this country varied from 13.4 to 30.7 with a mean of 18.2 per 10,000. The total incidence of cleft lip and cleft palate in the rural area is higher (20.8 per 10,000) than that in the urban area (16.9 per 10,000) (P less than 0.01). A male preponderance (19.8 per 10,000) over the female (16.3 per 10,000) (P less than 0.01) was observed.