AUTHOR=Wu Wenli , Sun Jing , Liu Huiyan , Chen Biting , Gao Zijun , Chen Yiyang , Li Fan , Wang Hongtao 

TITLE=Physical Growth Status and Feeding Methods of Chinese Infants With Cleft Lip With or Without Cleft Palate Under 1 Year of Age

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2020.00194

DOI=10.3389/fped.2020.00194

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objectives:</bold> Malnutrition is a characteristic feature of cleft lip with or without palate (CL/P). This study aims to retrospectively quantify the physical growth status, evaluate the feeding methods, and identify the possible correlation of CL/P types with growth failure.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> The length and weight of 508 infants with CL/P and 118 healthy infants were recorded at the date of admission. The weight-for-age (W/A), length-for-age (L/A), and body mass index-for-age (BMI) of the infants were calculated.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> The L/A values were significantly lower in the infants with cleft lip (CL, 123 cases) and cleft lip with palate (CLP, 122 cases) than those of the control infants (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.01). The W/A values of the infants with CP (263 cases) and CLP were significantly lower than those of the control infants (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). However, the BMI index was not significantly different between any of the studied groups and the controls. In the mixed feeding group, the infants with CL and CP showed significantly lower L/A (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) and W/A (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05), respectively.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Physical growth issues were more common in the infants with CP and CLP. Because this was a retrospective study, the foods supplied to the patients were not strictly uniform, therefore, a prospective study with unified food supplement may be needed to confirm these findings.</p>