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www.PRSJournal.com 61e
T
reatment of patients born with cleft lip
and palate is focused on improving quality
of life by means of reconstructing appear-
ance, hearing, feeding, speech, dentition and,
ultimately, psychosocial functioning. Although
Disclosure: The authors have no financial interest
to declare in relation to the content of this article. All
sources of funds supporting the completion of this ar-
ticle are under the auspices of the University of Cali-
fornia, Los Angeles.
Copyright © 2020 by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons
DOI: 10.1097/PRS.0000000000006905
Hi’ilani M. K. Potemra, B.S.
Johnny Lin, Ph.D.
Anthony A. Bertrand, M.D.,
M.B.A.
Fransia S. De Leon, B.A.
Jake A. Alford, M.D.
Allison C. Hu, B.A.
Libby Wilson, M.D.
Justine C. Lee, M.D., Ph.D.
Los Angeles, Calif.
Background: Cleft lip and palate patients undergo a significant number of
interventions during their childhood and adolescence. Although the inten-
tion of such interventions is to improve psychosocial functioning, there exists
a paucity of data on the psychosocial outcomes of the burden of care on cleft
children. In this work, the long-term effects of quantity and timing of child-
hood operations on teenagers with cleft lip and palate were evaluated.
Methods: Cleft lip and palate patients (aged 14 to 17 years; n = 55) and an
age-matched unaffected cohort (n = 14) prospectively enrolled from two
institutions were administered the anger, anxiety, and depressive symptoms
instruments from the Pediatric Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement In-
formation System. Total number of operations and operations stratified by
age groups (0 to 7, 8 to 10, 11 to 13, and 14 to 17 years) were evaluated in
relationship to instrument scores. Descriptive statistics, independent t tests,
Pearson correlations, and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted.
Results: No differences in overall psychosocial functioning were found between the
cleft lip and palate and comparison groups. Total quantity of childhood operations
did not correlate to psychosocial functioning of cleft lip and palate teenagers. How-
ever, multiple linear regression analyses demonstrated that increased number of
operations in the 8- to 10-year-old age range predicted increased anxiety and depres-
sive symptoms in teenagers (β = 0.38, p = 0.009; and β = 0.29, p = 0.03, respectively).
Conclusions: It was previously reported by the authors’ group that the 8- to 10-year-
old age range is an at-risk period for psychosocial distress in children with cra-
niofacial anomalies. Their current work demonstrates that increased number of
operations during this time frame may result in long-term consequences in anxiety
and depression in cleft lip and palate patients. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 146: 61e, 2020.)
CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Risk, II.
From the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery,
University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School
of Medicine; the Institute for Digital Research and Educa-
tion, Department of Statistics, University of California, Los
Angeles; and the Cleft Palate Program, Orthopaedic Insti-
tute for Children.
Received for publication July 3, 2019; accepted January 16,
2020.
Presented at the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Asso-
ciation of Plastic Surgeons, in Baltimore, Maryland, April
6 through 9, 2019; and the 64th Annual Meeting of the
Plastic Surgery Research Council, in Baltimore, Maryland,
May 2 through 5, 2019.
Long-Term Effect of Multiple Operations on
Psychosocial Function in Teenage Cleft
Lip and Palate Patients
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