Cleft data from surgical camps on rails: A doorstep health care delivery

• Main Authors: Sameek Bhattacharya (Author), Ashish Rai (Author), Prabhat Shrivastava (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications, 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.

Summary

Aim: The aim of the following study is to investigate the epidemiology of cleft lip and palate (CL/P) patients in a given population. Patients and Methods: Data from cleft camps conducted at Life Line Express Hospital-on-train in Madhya Pradesh, India from year 2003 to 2007 was analyzed. A total of 839 patients of non-syndromic CL/P were included in the study. The data was analyzed for age of the patients, type of cleft, laterality of the defect, their relation to the gender of the patient and presence of cleft in first degree relatives. Result: Nearly 59.8% of the patients were in the age group of 5-18 years. There was an overall male predominance. Unilateral clefts were recorded in 83.3% and bilateral clefts in 14.7% of cases. Only 2% of the patients had isolated cleft palate (CPO) and females had 2.3 times higher risk for CPO than males. Of unilateral cleft lip, left side was more common (67.3%). Nearly 4.9% patients had history of familial inheritance among first degree relatives. Conclusion: In India, vast territories lack basic medical amenities and all modern medical facilities are limited to cities. "Cleft surgery at doorstep" is an extremely effective strategy in treating the "hidden" cleft population and collecting a meaningful epidemiological data from a "virgin" territory. We also stress upon the need to include facial clefts as a notifiable disease in our country to understand the gender, regional and ethnic variations of the disease.

Item Description

2348-2125
2348-3644
10.4103/2348-2125.126557