Cleft lip and palate in southwestern Iran: an epidemiologic study of live births

BACKGROUND: Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CL/P), is the most common congenital anomaly in the head and neck worldwide. We studied the prevalence of cleft lip (CL) and palate (CP) in Shiraz, which is located in southwestern Iran. METHODS: Data was collected from the teaching hospitals of the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. Records of 147,608 consecutive live births delivered in three hospitals during the 10 years from November 1993 to November 2003 were reviewed. RESULTS: One hundred nineteen cases of CL/P or CP alone were registered for a prevalence of 0.80 per thousand live births. The overall male/female ratio was 1.25. The male/female ratio was 1.22 in the CL patients and 1.58 in the CL/P patients. A male predominance was obvious in both groups. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the prevalence rate of CL and CP in southwestern Iran is closer to the low prevalence reported in African countries and is lower than the prevalence reported in previous reports in Caucasians.