Longitudinal Study of Growth of Children With Unilateral Cleft Lip and Palate: 2 to 10 Years of Age

Objective: To study the growth of children with complete unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) from 2 to 10 years of age and to assess whether growth varied from that of children without UCLP (typical children). Design: Physical growth was one of the outcome measures of a National Institutes of Health-sponsored longitudinal, prospective clinical trial conducted by the University of Florida and the University of Sao Paulo. Setting: Hospital of Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies, University of Sao Paulo ( HRAC-USP), Bauru, Brazil. Main Outcome Measures: Height and weight were prospectively measured for 360 healthy children with UCLP who were nonsyndromic, belonged to median socioeconomic status, and received health care at HRAC-USP. To compare growth of children with UCLP to that of typical children, growth curves for UCLP were developed and compared with World Health Organization curves for 2006 and 2007, which were used as reference for typical children. Third-degree polynomials were used to explain the relationship of length and weight with age. Confidence limits of 95% were used for the mean curve using the statistic Z similar to N (0,1). Results: Children with UCLP from 2 to 10 years old presented height and weight growth curves similar to those of typical children for both genders. Conclusion: Children with UCLP from 2 to 10 years old presented physical growth similar to that of typical children.