Late detection of cleft palate

Cleft palate only (CPO) is a common congenital malformation, and most patients are diagnosed within the first weeks after birth. Late diagnosis of the cleft palate (CP) could initially result in feeding and growth impairment, and subsequently speech and hearing problems later in life. The purpose of this study is to retrospectively investigate (1) at which age CPO is diagnosed and (2) how the presence of syndromes and other factors relate to the age at diagnosis. The mean age of all children at our centre with CPO included between 1997 and 2014 at diagnosis (n = 271) was 1 year and 4 months. In all, 24.8 % (n = 67) was older than 12 months when diagnosed, and 37.3 % (n = 101) of all children had been diagnosed >30 days. These findings remain valid when a cut-off point of 14 days is used (44.3 % late). Moreover, the grade of the cleft was a determining factor for successful diagnosis; submucous clefts were detected much later on average (89.3 % > 30 days; p = .000). Similar results were found using Kaplan-Meier survival analyses.

Conclusion: CPO is often diagnosed late. Patients diagnosed ≤30 days after birth more often presented with an associated disorder. Early diagnoses became more frequent as the severity of the cleft increased (grades 1–4). Professionals should perform more thorough intra-oral investigations, including manual palpations and visual inspections of the palate; they should be made more aware of the frequent accompanying symptoms.