General body growth in children with clefts of the lip, palate, and craniofacial structure

Abstract

This paper discusses general body growth in children with craniofacial clefts. Body growth is important in such patients because morphology reflects the cumulation of metabolism over time. The same hormones that direct general body growth also govern the ontogeny of the head and face. Body growth varies in children with different types of clefts. We found no average differences from US norms for those with isolated clefts of the lip alone or those with bilateral clefts of the lip and palate. Children with unilateral clefts of the lip and palate and with isolated cleft palate were significantly shorter than their unaffected peers. Males with these defects were also thinner than normal based on average standard deviation scores for body mass indices. Both unilateral and bilateral clefts of the lip and palate predominated in males, while isolated cleft lip was more frequent in females. Our results indicate that congenital metabolic variation contributes to the development of orofacial clefting and influences postnatal development in certain types of cleft. Accordingly, cleft type is important to growth prognosis, and growth status is relevant to optimization of therapy in orofacial cleft patients.