Systematic Review of Growth in Young Children With Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate From 0 to 24 Months of Age

ObjectiveTo conduct a systematic review on growth in young children with a cleft of the lip and/or palate ("cleft").DesignWe searched 6 electronic databases for articles published on or before February 9, 2025 using MESH terms cleft lip/palate, growth, body weights/measures. We screened titles and abstracts iteratively using Rayyan's screening tool and manual review. Eligible studies underwent full-text review and anthropometric data extraction and synthesis. We excluded studies/estimates with <i>N</i> < 20.SettingAll published studies that reported anthropometric measures on children with cleft.Patients/ParticipantsChildren with cleft of age 0-24 months.Main Outcome MeasuresComparable measures including weight and length percentiles, failure to thrive (typically <5th percentile), weight-for-age <i>z</i>-scores (WAZ), length-for-age <i>z</i>-scores (LAZ), moderate/severe underweight (WAZ < -2), and moderate/severe stunting (LAZ < -2).Results289 articles were selected for full-text review following title/abstract screening of the initially identified 5561 unique articles. 143 met the eligibility criteria, 46 of which had comparable anthropometric estimates. The estimates in most studies were lower than expected based on referent growth charts, and demonstrated mean WAZ near one standard deviation below the mean or between 10% and 50% of infants had failure to thrive and/or were underweight. Measures of growth related to length showed deficits but to a lesser degree than weight-based measures. Data beyond age 12 months were sparse.ConclusionsRegardless of cleft type, young children with a cleft have worse attained growth than peers based on referent growth charts. Children with a cleft palate, with or without a cleft lip, had lower estimates than children with cleft lip.