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,  = 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,  = 0.016), whereas cleft lip adhesion was predicted by higher patient median block group income alone (OR = 0.41,  < 0.001). Lower patient median block group income predicted later age at cleft lip (β = -67.25,  = 0.011) and cleft palate (β = -46.35,  = 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.