ACTA FAC MED NAISS 2019;36(2):102-109

Original article

UDC: 616.315-007.254(81)

DOI: 10.5937/afmnai1902102L

 

An Ecological Study on Orofacial Clefts in Northeastern Brazil

 

Alessandro Leite Cavalcanti1, Everton de Sousa Catão1, Tiago Virgínio Fernandes1, Natália Medeiros Andrade1, Gustavo Correia Basto da Silva2, Liege Helena Freitas Fernandes3, Catarina Ribeiro Barros de Alencar1, Alidianne Fábia Cabral Cavalcanti4

1School of Dentistry, State University of Paraiba, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil
2MSc Student, Post-graduate Program in Public Health, State University of Paraiba, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil
3PhD Student, Post-graduate Program in Dentistry, School of Dentistry, State University of Paraiba, Campina Grande, PB, Brazil
4School of Dentistry, State University of Paraiba, Araruna, PB, Brazil



summary


The objective of this paper was to evaluate the prevalence of live births with orofacial clefts in Northeastern Brazil, with regard to Brazil’s federative units. An ecological, descriptive study was developed based on the data recorded in the Brazilian Information System on Live Births (SINASC), between 2011 and 2016 in nine Brazilian capitals (Maceio, Salvador, Fortaleza, São Luís, João Pessoa, Recife, Teresina, Natal and Aracaju). Data on the number of live births, number of live births with congenital anomaly and number of live births with orofacial clefts were collected according to the state of the federation, year of birth, gender, race and birth weight. Data were tabulated with Microsoft Excel software and presented through descriptive statistics (absolute and percentage distributions). In the analyzed period, there were 1,530,701 births, 19,536 (1.3 %) cases of congenital anomalies and 902 cases of orofacial clefts, or 5.9 per 10,000 live births. Among the cities analyzed, Natal (state of Rio Grande do Norte) and Recife (state of Pernambuco) presented the prevalence of 7.3 and 7.2 cases, respectively, of orofacial clefts for every 10,000 births. Regarding the demographic and clinical characteristics, 60 % of children were males, non-white (83.7 %) and normal birth weight (73.1 %). In the northeastern region of Brazil, the cities of Natal and Recife presented the highest prevalence of children with orofacial clefts.


Key words: congenital abnormalities, cleft lip, cleft palate, epidemiology