Nutritional status of patients at the moment of primary cleft lip and palate surgery

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the nutritional status of patients with cleft lip and palate at the time of admission and time of performing primary lip and/or palate surgeries at the Hospital for Rehabilitation of Craniofacial Anomalies of Bauru, Universidade São Paulo. Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted using medical records of individuals with cleft lip and/or palate who underwent primary lip and/or palate surgeries between 2011 and 2021. Anthropometric data were collected upon hospital admission and before primary lip and/or lip surgery. The Z-scores of the growth curves were calculated according to age and sex using the World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro and WHO AnthroPlus programs. Statistical analysis was performed using the Spearman, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Student’s t-tests. Results: Of the 218 participants, 50.46% were men, and most of the patients originated from the southeast region (87.16%) with prevalence of cleft palate (52.75%). A correlation was found between weight/height and weight/age indices with the delay in performing primary lip surgery and height/age with the delay in primary palate and lip surgery (Student’s t-test, p < 0.05), and no correlation was found between the nutritional/nutrological status and socioeconomic profile (Spearman correlation test, p < 0.05) and with the place of origin (ANOVA test, p < 0.05). Conclusion: A correlation was found between the weight/height and height/age indices with the delay in performing primary lip surgery and height/age with the delay in primary surgery of the palate and lip.