Malnutrition among Children with Non-syndromic Cleft Lip and Palate: A Case – Control Study in Ile – Ife, Nigeria

Background: Children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) face lots of difficulties in the society. They tend to suffer malnutrition due to lack of standard care especially from their parents and society at-large. The potential risk of malnutrition is particularly high during early childhood. There is paucity of indigenous data on the prevalence of malnutrition in children with CLP. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of non sydromic CLP on the nutritional status of children.

Methods: Anthropometric parameters weight for age z score (WAZ), height for age z score (HAZ), weight for height z score (WHZ) of children with CLP were compared with age matched controls.

Results: Prevalence of underweight, wasting and stunting for cleft group were 26%, 18% and 14% respectively compared to 18%, 14% and 10% for the control. Differences in the underweight, wasting and stunting between the two groups were not statistically significant (p value = 0.334, 0.585, and 0.538 respectively). There was significant difference in the bottlefeeding and breastfeeding rates of the two groups. (p= 0.000 and 0.000 respectively).

Conclusion: There is no statistically significant difference in the occurrence of malnutrition in children with non- syndromic Cleft lip and Palate compared with control.