Oral Health-Related Quality of Life Among Sudanese Children Treated for Cleft Lip and Palate.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among children with a cleft lip with or without a cleft palate (CL+/-P) and a group of their peers. The reliability of the Arabic version of the Child Oral Health Impact Profile Questionnaire (COHIP) was also assessed. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Cleft clinic in a private dental college in Omdurman City, Sudan. PATIENTS: In all, 75 children (mean age 11.3 +/- 2.5 years) with a history of CL+/-P and a group of 150 school children without CL+/-P (mean age 11.4 +/- 2.6 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Overall and subscale scores on the Arabic version of the COHIP. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability of COHIP in Arabic was high with an interclass correlation coefficient >0.8. Cronbach alpha value internal consistency was 0.8 for the total scale and between 0.7 and 0.8 for the subscales. The COHIP score was 89.41 +/- 19.97 in children with CL+/-P and 122.82 +/- 9.45 for the control group. Children with CL+/-P had significantly lower scores on the overall and all subscales when compared to children without CL+/-P (P </= .001). Among the children with CL+/-P, there were no statistically significant differences on the COHIP based on age and/or gender (P >/= .05). CONCLUSIONS: Children with CL+/-P had a relatively high OHRQoL, which was lower than that of their peers without CL+/-P in both the overall scale and all subscales. Gender and age differences had no significant impact on the OHRQoL. The COHIP Arabic version showed appropriate reliability.