The incidence of cleft lip and palate in Nigeria

The author examined 21,624 consecutive infants born at The University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, from 1976 to 1980. There were eight cases of clefts of the lip or palate or both giving an incidence of one in 2,703 live births. A retrospective analysis of 360 cleft lip and palate patients during the same period showed a distribution which is at variance with other reported series. The frequency of cleft lip only was 49%, of cleft palate only was 19%, and of cleft lip and palate was 32%. Right and left-sided lip clefts occurred in equal proportions, although in complete clefts, left-sided lesions tended to predominate. A very slight male preponderance in cleft lip only was found, but there were an equal number of males and females in the other two groups. The proportion of adults with unoperated clefts was high. Associated congenital abnormalities occurred in 18% of the patients.