AIMS To study the role of maternal employment status as indicator of socioeconomic status in the origin of isolated orofacial clefts (OFC) and in the use of periconceptional folic acid/multivitamin supplementation. METHODS 1,975 cases with OFC (1,374 cases with cleft lip +/- palate and 601 cases with posterior cleft palate), 38,151 population controls without any defects and 20,868 patient co...

BACKGROUND Orofacial clefts are the most common craniofacial congenital malformations, with significant anatomic, ethnic, racial and gender differences. OBJECTIVES To investigate the prevalence, distribution and characteristic features of various types of non-syndromic clefts among Israeli Jews and Arabs. METHODS We conducted a retrospective multi-center survey in 13 major hospitals in Isra...

OBJECTIVE To review recent data on the aetiology of cleft lip and palate. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE literature search (1986-2003). STUDY SELECTION Literature and data on aetiology of cleft lip and palate using the following key words: 'cleft lip', 'cleft palate', 'aetiology', and 'genetics'. DATA EXTRACTION Relevant information and data were reviewed by the authors. DATA SYNTHESIS Cleft lip ...

BACKGROUND To carry out a systematic review of the birth prevalence of cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CLP) and cleft palate (CP) in Africa based on available published data. METHOD Using the Cochrane search strategy and the following keywords words "cleft palate", "prevalence", "incidence", "cleft lip" and "Africa" to screen Ovid Medline {1966 to March 2007), Cinahl {1982-March 2007}...