frequency of cleft lip and palate among live births in akbar abadi hospital

cleft lip and cleft palate are one of the most frequent congenital anomalies worldwide. this study was conducted in order to measure the frequency of cleft lip and palate among live births in akbar abadi hospital. this is a descriptive study, dealing with 57526 cases of live birth out of 59477 medical files in akbar abadi hospital from 2004 to 2008. all the collected data were recorded in specific data sheets. the frequency of cleft lip or palate or both was 103 cases in 57526 live births, which is 1.79 per 1000 live births. the frequency of cleft lip, cleft palate and concurrent cleft lip and palate were 0.53, 0.33 and 0.92 per 1000 live births respectively. among the newborns with any type of this anomaly, 53 (51.5%) were males and 50 (48.5%) were females. twenty nine neonates (28.2%) had limb anomalies, 13 (12.6%) had syndromic features, 4 (3.9%) had limb anomalies and syndromic features, and 3 (2.9%) had cardiovascular anomalies. our study indicates a frequency of cleft lip and/or palate near to the average international figure, and close to the findings in european and east asian countries. furthermore, the frequency of cleft lip and palate in our study was different from american countries and india probably due to ethnic differences.