Primary Cleft Lip and Palate Repair in Assam, India: Does Preoperative Anthropometric Analysis Help Identify Patients With Increased Surgical Risk in a Clinically Prescreened Population?

OBJECTIVE: To compare anthropometric z-scores with incidence of post-operative complications for patients undergoing primary cleft lip or palate repair. DESIGN: This was a retrospective observational analysis of patients from a surgical center in Assam, India, and includes a cohort from a single surgical mission completed before the opening of the center. SETTING: Patients included in the study underwent surgery during an Operation Smile mission before the opening of Operation Smile's Guwahati Comprehensive Cleft Care Center in Guwahati, India. The remaining cohort received treatment at the center. All patients received preoperative assessment and screening; surgery; and postoperative care, education, and follow-up. PATIENTS, PARTICIPANTS: Our sample size included 1941 patients and consisted of all patients with complete information in the database who returned for follow-up after receiving primary cleft lip repair or primary cleft palate repair between January 2011 and April 2013. INTERVENTIONS: Preoperative anthropometric measurements. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Postoperative complications. RESULTS: Anthropometric z-scores were not a significant predictor of adverse surgical outcomes in the group analyzed. Palate surgery had increased risk of complication versus lip repair, with an overall odds ratio of 5.66 (P < .001) for all patients aged 3 to 228 months. CONCLUSIONS: Anthropometric z-scores were not correlated with increased risk of surgical complications, possibly because patients were well screened for malnutrition before surgery at this center. Primary palate repair is associated with an approximate fivefold increased risk of developing postoperative complication(s) compared with primary lip repair.