Cleft Lip Repair in Premature Infants With Cardiac Risk Factors.

Despite cleft lip repair having demonstrated safety when performed in the outpatient setting, patients with comorbidities are significantly more likely to be hospitalized overnight. There are several comorbidities overrepresented with inpatient admission, but only cardiac risk has any association with adverse outcomes in premature patients. The severity of cardiac risk is significantly associated with adverse events at all degrees of prematurity (P all ≤0.002). In premature patients with major cardiac risk factors, adverse events are significantly associated with younger age (P = 0.016) and lower weight (P = 0.013). Performing cleft lip repair on children older than 125 days (P < 0.001, before cutoff: 50.0% vs after cutoff: 6.4%) and weight greater than 10 lbs (P < 0.001, before cutoff: 56.4% vs after cutoff: 6.1%) provides a significant reduction in postoperative adverse events in premature patients with major cardiac risk factors.