Socio-economic and Cultural Background in Non-syndromic Cleft lip and/or Palate

Objectives: Cleft lip and/or (CL/P) with a frequency of approximately 1 in 1000 live births, is one of the most common orofacial congenital malformations. Despite decades of intensive investigation into the cause of this defect, the pathogenesis is still not clear, however, it has been established that clefting is directly related to hereditary and environmental factors involved in development and growth processes. The objective of this study is to establish possible association between the socio-economic status of parents and the risk of having a child with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in northeastern Nigeria. Methods: A case-control study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the socio-economic status of parents of 65 consecutive patients with CL/P that attended the Oral and maxillofacial clinics of the university of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, Nigeria over a 3-years period. For each case, a set of parent with no history of malformed child was selected and matched for ethnic group, maternal age and parity. Results: There was a statistical significant difference between the control and the cases based on socioeconomic status. When the low and the high socioeconomic groups were considered, a significant difference was also noticed amongst the cases and the controls. Conclusions: The possible association exists between the socio-economic status of parents and the risk of having a child with CL/P in northeastern Nigeria. However, this may not be a direct causative correlation but due to one or more confounding factors. An insight into the aetiology of CL/P, especially identifying environmental factors that place a family at risk in a locality may perhaps pave the way for an effective preventive programme.