# Comparison of secondary surgery before and after centralisation of cleft services in the UK: a whole-island cross-sectional analysis

## TL;DR

Centralizing cleft care in the UK improved primary surgery outcomes and reduced the need for secondary surgeries in children with cleft lip and palate.

## Contribution

This study provides evidence that centralizing cleft care reduces secondary surgeries and improves clinical outcomes.

## Key findings

- Centralisation increased the proportion of children with good facial appearance from 16% to 42%.
- The risk of secondary surgery decreased by 40% after centralisation.
- The proportion of children achieving ideal surgical outcomes rose from 7% to 28%.

## Abstract

Cleft lip and palate significantly impact a child’s speech and facial appearance. Children undergo cleft repairs in infancy, but poor results from these initial repairs often lead to secondary surgery. In the late 1990s, cleft care provision in the UK was centralised to approximately 11 managed clinical networks or centres. This centralisation has been associated with improvements in speech and aesthetic outcomes, but little is known about the effect of centralisation on the use of secondary surgery. The purpose of this study was to compare the cumulative incidence of secondary cleft surgeries before and after centralisation and the proportion of children achieving good clinical outcomes without secondary surgery.

Retrospective, cross-sectional.

Two cross-sectional studies of 5-year-old children with non-syndromic unilateral cleft lip and palate were conducted, one precentralisation and one postcentralisation.

The cumulative incidence of secondary surgery from birth through age 5 was compared precentralisation and postcentralisation using Fisher’s exact test, as were facial appearance and speech outcomes at age 5. Risk ratios (RR) were estimated using log-binomial multivariable regression models that adjusted for sex and age at evaluation.

Postcentralisation, the proportion of children achieving good or excellent facial appearance increased from 16% to 42% (p<0.0001), good speech outcomes improved from 82% to 90% (p=0.02) and those avoiding secondary surgery rose from 45% to 67% (p<0.0001). The risk of secondary surgery decreased by 40% (RR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.48 to 0.74), with notable reductions for secondary lip, palate and nose surgeries (RR: 0.19, 0.54 and 0.13, respectively; p<0.0001). The proportion of children achieving an ideal surgical outcome—good facial appearance, good speech and no secondary surgery—increased from 7% precentralisation to 28% postcentralisation (p=0.01; 4.1-fold increase).

Centralisation of cleft care was associated with improved outcomes of primary lip and palate repairs and a corresponding reduction in secondary surgery.