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Weight gain in children with cleft palate from birth to two years
1Cleft Palate Center, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Cleft Palate Journal
|April 1, 1988
Insights
Babies with palatal clefts showed normal birth weight but lagged in weight gain by age two. Male infants with clefts experienced more significant weight impairment compared to females.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Growth Studies
- Craniofacial Anomaly Research
- Infant Development
Background:
- Palatal clefts are congenital conditions affecting facial development.
- Early childhood growth is crucial for overall health outcomes.
- Understanding growth trajectories in infants with clefts is vital for intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the growth patterns of infants with palatal clefts to those without.
- To identify potential sex-based differences in growth impairment.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal weight tracking from birth to two years.
- Comparison of 77 infants with palatal clefts against a control group of normal infants.
- Statistical analysis of weight data.
Main Results:
- No significant difference in mean birth weight between groups.
- Infants with palatal clefts demonstrated a significant lag in weight gain after birth.
- Male infants with palatal clefts exhibited greater weight deficits than females.
Conclusions:
- Palatal clefts do not affect initial birth weight but impact postnatal growth.
- Gender influences the severity of growth impairment in infants with palatal clefts.
- Early monitoring of weight gain is essential for male infants with palatal clefts.
Abstract:
The weights from birth to 2 years of 77 babies with palatal clefts were compared with the weights of normal babies (Pomerance, 1979). Babies with clefts did not differ from normal infants in mean birth weight, but they lagged behind thereafter. Males were more impaired than females.