Incidence and epidemiology of cleft lip/palate in Singapore.

This is an on-going study monitoring congenital malformations in all babies delivered in the Kandang Kerbau Hospital, Singapore. Cleft lip and cleft palate as well as a combination of both are among those conditions closely monitored. Up till December 1987, 24 months after the study commenced, a total of 30,411 newborn infants have been screened, out of which 53 infants presented with one of these conditions, an incidence of 0.17% (one per 574 births). There were 26 males and 27 females. During this period, 15,564 males and 14,847 females were delivered; incidence in males was 0.17% and females 0.18%. The incidence in Chinese was 0.20%, Malays 0.14% and Indians 0.09%. Of the 53 cases, 11 (20.7%) have isolated cleft lip, 18 (34.0%) isolated cleft palate and 24 (45.3%) both cleft lip and palate combined. Comparison with a set of controls matched with regards to place and time of delivery, maternal age, maternal parity and ethnic group was made. Analysis of the study and control groups demonstrated that early menarche, regular menstrual periods, and ingestion of traditional medicine were significantly associated with facial clefts.