A Cephalometric Study of Non-Cleft Parents of Children with Cleft Lip, Cleft Lip and Palate, and Cleft Palate : Evidence to Support a Different Etiology for Isolated Cleft Palate Versus Cleft Lip?

Abstract

Cleft lip with or without cleft palate (CLI P) and isolated cleft palate (CP) have been shown to be separate epidemiologic and embryologic entities. Furthermore, it has been proposed that noncleft biologic parents of children with facial clefts may demonstrate craniofacial differences genetically predisposing them to pass on the cleft phenotype to their offspring. With these two hypotheses in mind, the objective of the present study was to determine if differences exist in the craniofacial morphology between parents of CL/P children and parents of CP children.

Twenty-seven measurements were obtained from anterior-posterior (AP) cephalograms on 127 biologic parents of sporadic CL/P and CP children. Each measurement was compared with sex and age-matched normals, and Z-scores were determined. The mean Z-scores for each group were tested for significant differences from normal and from each other. In agreement with past literature, the craniofacial morphology of parents of cleft children was generally found to have greater facial widths and shorter facial heights. Differences between the findings of the present study and the past literature are discussed. Although CL/P and CP are thought to be separate entities, differences between the parents of CL/P and CP children were not statistically evident.