Obstet Gynecol Sci.  2015 May;58(3):196-202. 10.5468/ogs.2015.58.3.196.

Prevalence of orofacial clefts in Korean live births

• Lee CW
• Hwang SM
• Lee YS
• Kim MA
• Seo K

• KMID: 2148931
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5468/ogs.2015.58.3.196

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of orofacial clefts and identify the characteristics of other birth defects associated with orofacial clefts in Korea.
METHODS
This study used data from the Congenital Anomaly Survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The survey was conducted on birth defects documented during 2005 to 2006 in 2,348 medical institutes in Korea. This study was performed using data from medical insurance claims of the National Health Insurance Corporation. The prevalence of orofacial clefts was defined as the number of cases per 10,000 live births.
RESULTS
Among the 883,184 live births, 25,335 infants had birth defects, which included 980 infants with orofacial clefts. The prevalence of total orofacial clefts in the total live births was 11.09 per 10,000, accounting for 3.9% of all birth defects. The most common orofacial cleft was cleft palate only (n=492), followed by cleft lip only (n=245) and cleft lip with cleft palate (n=243), with prevalence rates of 5.57, 2.77, 2.75 per 10,000 live births, respectively. While malformations of the circulatory system; digestive system; eyes, ears, face, and neck; and musculoskeletal system were most frequently encountered among infants with a cleft lip with or without a cleft palate, anomalies of most organ systems were notably observed among infants with cleft palate only.
CONCLUSION
The prevalence of orofacial clefts in Korea was similar or slightly lower than that of other countries. This study informs present status of orofacial clefts and gives baseline data to lay the foundation stone for Korea's registry system of orofacial clefts.

Keyword

Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Korea; Orofacial clefts; Prevalence

MeSH Terms

Academies and Institutes
Cleft Lip
Cleft Palate
Congenital Abnormalities
Digestive System
Ear
Humans
Infant
Insurance
Korea
Live Birth*
Musculoskeletal System
National Health Programs
Neck
Prevalence*

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