A Clinico-statistical Evaluation of Patients with Cleft Lip and/or Palate in the Japanese Cleft Palate Association

This research was planned by the Academic Survey Committee and was carried out with the cooperation of the members of the Japanese Cleft Palate Association （JCPA）. Nine hundred and sixty-five cases in 2019 were enrolled from 49 cooperating facilities belonging to the JCPA. Nine clinical characteristics of patients were investigated and the results were as follows: <br>1）Types: Cleft Lip （CL）: 110 cases （11.4％）, Cleft Lip and Alveolus （CLA）: 206 cases （21.3％）, Cleft Lip, Alveolus and Palate （CLAP）: 388 cases （40.2％）, Cleft Palate （CP）: 193 cases （20.0％）, Submucous Cleft Palate （SMCP）: 52 cases （5.4％）, Others （cases with mid-cleft, CL＋SMCP, and so on）: 16 cases （1.7％）. <br>2）Affected side: Left: 368 cases （52.2％）, right: 183 cases （26.0％）, bilateral: 160 cases （22.7％）. There are fewer bilateral cases in the CL type, but many in the CLAP type in comparison with others. <br>3）Gender: Female: 432 cases （44.8％）, male: 533 cases （55.2％）. In most types, males are affected more than females. However, in the CP type females are affected more than males. <br>4）Body weight at birth: The average body weight of SMCP is lower than that of other types. <br>5）Prenatal diagnosis: About 50％ of the patients with cleft lip are diagnosed prenatally. <br>6）Age of parents: The father’s age is slightly higher than the mother’s age in all types. <br>7）Frequency of consanguinity: There is about 6-8％ of consanguinity in each type. <br>8）Concurrent diseases （some cases have several concurrent diseases）. <br>9）Syndrome/Chromosomal abnormalities: CP and SMCP have a relatively higher ratio. <br>The chi-squared test shows statistical differences （p＜0.05） among cleft types in the affected side, gender, body weight, concurrent diseases, and syndrome/chromosomal abnormalities. <br>We obtained many valuable results from a relatively large number of Japanese patients with cleft lip and/or palate in one year.