Incidence of cleft lip and palate in Iran. A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE To investigate meta-analysis of published data on overall incidence of cleft lip, cleft palate, and cleft lip and palate of newborns in Iran. METHODS This meta-analysis was carried out at the School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran between May 2009 and December 2009. Our data were consisted of all incidences of cleft lip and palate from 1978 to June 2009, and we selected 11 studies. Inverse-variance weighting was implemented to calculate the random effect summary estimates and to produce a forest plot. Cumulative meta-analysis on published data was calculated and grouped. Publication bias was checked using both Begg's and Egger's test. RESULTS Pooled incidence from 11 studies was 1.0/1000 (95% confidence interval: 0.5-1.5). There was no evidence of publication bias among the 11 studies (p-values for Begg's test was 0.53 and for Egger's test was 0.23). CONCLUSION The incidence of cleft lip and palate in Iran was lower compared to other countries.