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This national registry-based study compares surgical procedures, demography, and concurrent medical conditions, in internationally adopted and Swedish-born children with cleft lip and/or palate until the age of five years. Data on the cleft type and gender for 331 internationally adopted children and 2064 Swedish-born children born from 2007 to 2018, were extracted from the registry and analyzed. Data on surgical procedures performed in Sweden and concurrent medical conditions and were collected for internationally adopted children and Swedish-born children with unilateral or bilateral cleft, born 2007–2013. A higher prevalence of unilateral and bilateral clefts (p < 0.0001), as well as a predominance of male patients with unilateral clefts (p = 0.0025), were identified among the internationally adopted children compared with children born in Sweden. Differences in the concurrence of other medical conditions in internationally adopted children versus Swedish-born infants were non-significant. Primary palatal surgeries performed in Sweden were significantly delayed for the adopted group. More secondary palatal surgeries such as speech improving surgery and palatal re-repair were needed for internationally adopted children (p < 0.0001) until age five. Conclusions: The Swedish CLP Registry provided national coverage of the CL/P cohort. Internationally adopted children exhibited a predominance of more severe cleft types, a predominance of males, delayed primary palatal surgery and increased need for secondary surgeries before age five. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internationally adopted children (IAC) with a cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) tend to arrive with un-operated palates at an age at which their Swedish-born peers have completed their primary palate surgery. Our aim of the present study was to analyze surgical, speech and hearing outcomes of IAC at age 5 and compare with those of a matched group of Swedish-born children. Fifty children with CL/P born in 1994-2005 participated in the study. Twenty-five IAC were matched according to age, sex and cleft type with 25 Swedish-born children. Audio recordings were perceptually analyzed by two experienced, blinded speech-language pathologists. Hearing and speech statuses were evaluated on the same day for all children. Surgical timing and complications as in fistulas and requirement for secondary velopharyngeal (VP) surgery, speech evaluation results, and present hearing status were analyzed for all children of age 5 years. Results showed that primary palatal surgery was delayed by a mean of 21 months in IAC. IAC had a higher prevalence of velopharyngeal impairment that was statistically significant, a higher fistula rate, and experienced more secondary surgery than Swedish-born peers. Hearing loss due to middle ear disease was slightly more common among IAC, whereas the rate of treatment with tympanostomy tubes was similar between the two groups. In conclusion, IAC with CL/P represent a challenge for CL/P teams because of the heterogeneous nature of the patient group and difficulties associated with delayed treatment, and the results show the importance of close follow-up over time.