Epidemiological and Spatiotemporal Descriptive Analysis of Patients with Nonsyndromic Cleft Lip and/or Palate: A 12-Year Retrospective Study in Southern Iran.

Objectives: The current study is aimed at evaluating epidemiological characteristics and spatiotemporal distribution of cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) in the south of Iran. Methods: Data were extracted from the 1840 medical records of patients who were referred to the Cleft Lip and Palate Center of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, from January 1, 2011, to September 1, 2022. The collected variables included demographic data (gender, birth date and season, place, birth order, and weight), cleft types and the subtypes, parental information (health status, education level, marital status, and age during the pregnancy), and other basic parameters. The chi-square test at a significance level of 0.05 was used to analyze collected data. The geographic information system (GIS) analysis was also used for analyzing the spatial distribution of CL/P patients. Results: Based on our inclusion criteria, 1281 nonsyndromic patients were included in this study. The most common type was cleft lip and palate (CLP) with 48.32%, whereas cleft palate (CP) and cleft lip (CL) accounted for 40.75% and 10.93% of the patients, respectively. There was a progressive increase in the frequency of all types of clefts, and most of them were male ( Conclusion: In this study, the frequency of cleft types and subtypes was similar to the existing literature. However, high rate of consanguineous marriage, especially between first-degree relatives, was the most notable feature of this population.