Objectives: Investigate associations between cleft laterality in patients with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) and oral-health, dental-arch, speech, audiological, psychological and nasolabial-aesthetic outcomes.
Methods: Secondary data analysis of the outcomes of 5-year-old children with non-syndromic complete UCLP identified from three studies: Cleft Collective (n = 155), Cleft Care UK (CCUK) (n = 266) and Clinical Standards Advisory Group (CSAG) study (n = 238). Outcome measures included occlusal assessment using the 5-year-old's index score, speech intelligibility rating using the CAPS-A Audit tool, audiological assessment using pure tone audiometry, nasolabial aesthetic assessment using the Asher-McDade tool, oral-health assessment using decayed, missing, filled teeth scores and parent-reported outcomes. Logistic regression with adjustment for age, sex and index-of-multiple-deprivation scores were performed.
Results: No differences were found in patient-reported outcomes between the left and right clefts in the Cleft Collective study. From the CCUK study, right clefts had poorer speech (n = 236; 95% CI 1.09, 3.42; and P = .03) and hearing outcomes (n = 211; 95% CI 1.03, 3.43; P = .04). In the CSAG study, patients with left clefts were more likely to be teased (n = 213; 95% CI 0.26, 0.85; and P = .01).
Conclusion: Weak associations between cleft laterality, speech, hearing and psychological outcomes were found, however the findings were inconsistent across the studies. This study contributes to evidence of associations between laterality and outcomes in children born with UCLP.
Keywords: cleft laterality; cleft outcomes; cleft sidedness; left vs right cleft.
© 2024 The Authors. Orthodontics & Craniofacial Research published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.