Abstract
Mongolia is one of the Central Asian countries where almost no studies exist concerning the prevalence at birth of orofacial clefting. Therefore, the purpose of this retrospective study was to estimate the prevalence at birth of cleft lip and/or palate (CUP) in Mongolians based on the limited available data. This is the first assessment of its kind conducted at the international level in Mongolia regarding the prevalence at birth of CL/P.
Case reports of CL/P in newborns for the period from 1997 to 2001 were included in the study. Birth prevalence was determined by a 5-year hospital-based study from data kept at the Maternal and Child Health Research Center (MCHRC) Hospital, Ulaanbaatar, which comprised 24,970 consecutive live births.
CL/P were found in 19 of 24,970 newborns, for a total birth prevalence of 0.76 per 1000, or 1/1314. The birth prevalence of CL/P in Mongolians was estimated to be low. This report is preliminary and does not contribute to knowledge on the cause, prevention, and treatment of CL/P, but rather provides descriptive information on the basic epidemiological situation in this nation. The specificity of the socioeconomic conditions in Mongolia differs from those of other countries where CL/P have been extensively studied, making it worth evaluating the CL/P situation in this population. This study outlines the necessity of future prospective investigations, including data from other delivery hospitals, to confirm the current figures substantiating the hypothesis for the low prevalence of CL/P in Mongolia.
