Birth weight, body length, and cranial circumference in newborns with cleft lip or palate.

OBJECTIVE

This paper reports on birth weight, body length, body mass index, and cranial circumference at birth of infants with cleft lip and/or palate born between 1973 and 1992.

METHODS

Data were obtained from two nationwide Swedish health registries. Infants with syndromes, twins, and infants with immigrant parentage were excluded from the study. Comparisons were made with all singleton births with the same exclusion criteria (n = 2,031,140).

RESULTS

The body dimensions of infants with isolated cleft lip (n = 865) were found not to differ from those of control subjects, but infants with isolated cleft palate (n = 811) or cleft lip and palate (n = 1139) were found to be lighter and shorter than control subjects. Also, infants with the Pierre Robin sequence (n = 121) had a tendency to be lighter and shorter than control subjects, but these differences did not reach statistical significance despite the large study population.