Orofacial clefts in newborns in Brazil: a time series study, 2010-2021.

Objective: To analyze distribution of orofacial cleft cases (cleft palate, cleft lip and cleft palate with cleft lip) and their temporal trend in Brazil, according to the country's regions and Federative Units from 2010 to 2021, in addition to comparing proportions during the COVID-19 pandemic, from 2020 to 2021, with the preceding time series, from 2010 to 2019.

Methods: This is an epidemiological time series study, using records of all babies born with orofacial clefts held on the Live Birth Information System for the period 2010-2021. Prevalence rates were calculated according to year, regions and Federative Units. Time series analysis was performed using the Prais-Winsten generalized linear model.

Results: A total of 34,564,430 live births were recorded in the period. National prevalence of orofacial clefts was 6.73/10,000 live births (95% confidence interval [95%CI 6.64; 6.81])). The Southern region had the highest rate in the period for all types of orofacial clefts. The Northeast region and the states of Alagoas and Piauí showed a rising trend in the period for the three types of orofacial clefts. Other regions showed a stationary trend or increases/decreases in just one type of cleft. Comparing the pre-pandemic period with the pandemic period, there were no significant changes in the prevalence in the Brazilian regions.

Conclusion: Among the country's regions, for all three types of clefts, the South had the highest prevalence, and the Northeast had a rising trend. Among the Federative Units, there was an increase in the three types of clefts in Alagoas and Piauí. The COVID-19 pandemic did not influence prevalence in the period analyzed.