The craniofacial morphology of the parents of children with orofacial clefting: a systematic review of cephalometric studies

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the cephalometric studies investigating the craniofacial morphology of the parents of children with orofacial clefting (OFC). SEARCH STRATEGY: The search strategy was based on the keywords 'parent', cephalometry', and 'cleft', identifying 17 studies, of which 15 'case/control' studies met the inclusion criteria Statistically significant clinically relevant cephalometric variables from univariate statistical tests and multivariate results were collated and presented unweighted. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The parental craniofacial complex in OFC is distinctive in comparison to the non-cleft population. However, there is insufficient consistency in study designs and results to accurately characterize the parents of children with OFC. Although the craniofacial morphology of the parents of children with CL(P) differs to the parents of children with CP, there is insufficient information to accurately localize these differences.