Continuous Multidisciplinary Care for Patients With Orofacial Clefts-Should the Follow-up Interval Depend on the Cleft Entity?

"The Decision to End Speech Therapy Brought More Peace and Tranquility Into Our Family": Exploring Speech-Related Treatment Fatigue and Dropout in Parents and Children With a Cleft Palate

PURPOSE

Treatment fatigue is a complex, multidimensional, multicausal, and subjective phenomenon that is not yet well explored and understood in the area of speech therapy. The purpose of this study was to investigate speech-related treatment fatigue and speech treatment dropout in parents and children with a cleft (lip and) palate receiving or having received speech treatment for cleft-related articulation disorders.

METHOD

Thirteen participants were included in this study (n = seven parents with a median age of 40 years and n = six children with a median age of 10 years). Qualitative semistructured interviews were conducted separately with parents and children to investigate their experiences with cleft speech treatment. An inductive thematic approach was used to analyze the data and construct different themes. Rigor of the data was verified by conducting an investigator triangulation and by performing member checks.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

The analyses of the interviews yielded three major themes of importance to the children and their parents: (a) physical symptoms of treatment fatigue, (b) psychological symptoms of treatment fatigue, and (c) from treatment fatigue to treatment dropout. Physical symptoms of treatment fatigue were mainly related to transportation burden. On a psychological level, speech treatment may potentially lead to a cognitive-emotional overload. These feelings are primarily related to the practical issue of scheduling required treatment sessions in the family agenda. The decision to discontinue speech treatment was reported to be multifactorial. In this decision-making process, data suggested that the child's perspective must be heard more.

A Geospatial Analysis of Barriers to Cleft Lip and Palate Care in the United States

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluates the geospatial distribution of cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) care in the United States, assesses disparities between families with and without one-hour proximity to CL/P care, and recommends interventions for improving access.

DESIGN

We identified American Cleft Palate Craniofacial Association-approved CL/P teams and calculated a one-hour driving radius around each clinic. We then used census data to compare risk factors for developing cleft (i.e., incidence risk factors) and obstacles to care (i.e., access risk factors) between counties with and without one-hour proximity.

RESULTS

We identified 187 CL/P teams in 45 states. Most were in the South (n = 60, 32.0%), though children in the Middle Atlantic had the greatest access to care. Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky had the least access. Children without access were 39% more likely to have gestational tobacco exposure, 8% more likely to have gestational obesity exposure, and 28% less likely to have health insurance (p < 0.01). Children without access in the South were 29% more likely to have a low birth weight and 46% more likely to be living below the poverty line (p < 0.01). Children with access were twice as likely to live in immigrant families and 7-times more likely to speak English as a second language.

CONCLUSIONS

Pronounced disparities affect patients with and without one-hour access to CL/P care. Interventions should address care costs for patients living furthest without access and language barriers for patients with access that speak English as a second language.

Geospatial and Socioeconomic Factors Interact to Predict Management and Outcomes in Cleft Lip and Palate Surgery: A Single Institution Study of 740 Patients

OBJECTIVE

Determine interactions between geospatial and socioeconomic factors influencing cleft lip and/or cleft palate (CL/P) management and outcomes.

DESIGN

Retrospective review and outcomes analysis (n = 740).

SETTING

Urban academic tertiary care center.

PATIENTS

740 patients undergoing primary (CL/P) surgery from 2009 to 2019.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES

Prenatal evaluation by plastic surgery, nasoalveolar molding, cleft lip adhesion, and age at CL/P surgery.

RESULTS

Prenatal evaluation by plastic surgery was predicted by the interaction between higher patient median block group income and shorter patient distance from the care center (OR = 1.07, p = 0.022). Nasoalveolar molding was also predicted by the interaction between higher patient median block group income and shorter distance from the care center (OR = 1.28, p = 0.016), whereas cleft lip adhesion was predicted by higher patient median block group income alone (OR = 0.41, p < 0.001). Lower patient median block group income predicted later age at cleft lip (β = -67.25, p = 0.011) and cleft palate (β = -46.35, p = 0.050) repair surgery.

CONCLUSIONS

Distance from the care center and lower median income by block group interacted to significantly predict prenatal evaluation by plastic surgery and nasoalveolar molding for patients with CL/P at a large, urban, tertiary care center. Patients living farthest from the care center who received prenatal evaluation by plastic surgery or who underwent nasoalveolar molding had higher median block group income. Future work will determine mechanisms perpetuating these barriers to care.

The presence and distribution of various genes in postnatal CLP-affected palatine tissue

BACKGROUND

Worldwide cleft lip with or without a cleft palate (CL/P) is the most common craniofacial birth defect. Apart from changes in facial appearance, additionally affected individuals often suffer from various associated comorbidities requiring complex multidisciplinary treatment with overall high expenses. Understanding the complete pathogenetic mechanisms of CL/P might aid in developing new preventative strategies and therapeutic approaches, help with genetic counselling, and improve quality of life. Many genes have been associated with the development of orofacial clefts; however, the majority require further research. Based on the role of PAX7, PAX9, SHH, SOX3, WNT3A, and WNT9B in orofacial development, the intention was to use chromogenic in situ hybridization to detect the six genes in postnatal CLP-affected palatine tissue and compare their distribution within the tissue samples.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences in the distribution of PAX7, PAX9, WNT3A, and WNT9B were observed. In total, 19 pairs of moderate to very strong positive correlations were noted.

CONCLUSIONS

Changes in the cleft-affected palatine epithelium primarily seem to be associated with the PAX7 gene; however, PAX9, WNT3A, WNT9B, and SOX3 role seems to be more limited. Whilst connective tissue changes seem to depend on PAX7 only, SHH seems to participate individually and indistinctly. Numerous positive correlations reflect the complicating interactions of the pathways and their components in the orofacial cleft morphopathogenesis.