OBJECTIVE: to identify and compare family and maternal characteristics among people with facial cleft and healthy newborns, by means of a case control study in the hospitals of the city of Pelotas-RS. METHODS: data was obtained through interviews with mothers of 56 cases and 232 controls, born in the five maternities of the city of Pelotas in the period from 1990 to 2002. Controls were the four newborns born after the case. Information on the type of cleft lip, sex and weight of the newborn, twin pregnancy, consanguinity, ethnicity, family history of facial clefts and other malformations was obtained. Analysis planning of data included the utilization of the Student t-test, chi-square and odds ratio. RESULTS: there was an incidence of 0.78 cleft lips with or without cleft palate per 1,000 liveborn. Significant differences were observed in relation to the level of mothers' schooling and family history of malformations, with estimated relative risks of 6.0 and 2.3, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: 56 newborns with cleft lip with or without cleft palate were found in Pelotas, RS during the study period. The risk factors for facial clefts were: low level of maternal schooling, which can be related to a consequent low socioeconomic level and family history of malformations of any kind.
Cleft Lip; Cleft Palate; Risk Factors; Epidemiology
