Spatiotemporal Distribution of Non-syndromic Orofacial Clefts in Villa Clara Province, Cuba, 2013-2018

To discern environmental factors that, along with genes influencing susceptibility, drive the occurrence of non-syndromic congenital disorders, it is important to identify clusters of these abnormalities.

Determine the adjusted prevalence of orofacial clefts in Villa Clara Province, Cuba, and identify and describe their spatiotemporal variability during January 2013-December 2018.

Cases were selected from a total of 46,007 births that took place in the province's four maternity hospitals during the study period. Of these, 36 cases of newborns with either prenatal or postnatal non-syndromic orofacial cleft diagnoses were obtained from hospital and community registries. We applied spatial statistical analysis techniques with the aim of identifying areas within the province with the highest prevalence.

Adjusted prevalence was 0.78 per 1000 births. The most common non-syndromic orofacial congenital abnormality was cleft lip with or without cleft palate. Frequency of congenital abnormalities increased during the first two years of the study and decreased during the last two years. A primary spatiotemporal cluster was identified in two contiguous municipalities in 2017 and a secondary one in two other neighboring municipalities between 2014 and 2016.

Spatiotemporal analysis of non-syndromic orofacial clefts in Villa Clara Province, Cuba, identified two spatiotemporal clusters, constituting an opportunity to better understand the etiology of orofacial clefts.