Background:

The effect of food fortification with folic acid on the incidence of lip-palate fissures (FLP) is under discussion.

Aim:

To calculate the rate of hospital discharges due to cleft lip and palate (CLP) and explore whether they decreased after the start of folic acid fortification in Chile.

Material and Methods:

The hospital discharge databases published by the Chilean Ministry of Health were analyzed. The trends of discharge rates due to CLP of children of less than one year of life (ICD-10 Q350-379 code) and live births (lb) were calculated from 1986 to 2012. Variables such as incidence of rubella, poverty rate, obesity in pregnant women, and percentage of women who smoked or drank alcohol in the last month were included. The relative risk (RR) of CLP pre-fortification (1986-1999) and post-fortification (2000-2010) was calculated. Mixed and Prais-Winsten models were used to adjust other variables.

Results:

The hospital discharge rate due to CLP decreased from 1.88 x 1,000 lb during 1986-1996 to 1.68 x 1,000 lb (RR = 1.09 (95% CI 1.05-1.14, p < 0.001). Prais-Winsten and Mixed models, determined that folic acid fortification is the variable explaining this decrease. During 2004-2011, hospital discharge rates for cleft lip decreased but there was an increase in the figures for cleft lip and palate.

Conclusions:

The 9% decrease in hospital discharge rates for CLP is concomitant with wheat folic acid fortification.