A new index for assessing surgical outcome in unilateral cleft lip and palate subjects aged five: Reproducibility and validity

Abstract Objective: This study assessed the reproducibility, reliability, and predictive validity of a previously developed index by the authors for assessing surgical outcome in unilateral cleft lip and palate (UCLP) children aged 5. Methods: Sixty randomly selected study models of 5- to 6-year-old complete UCLP subjects were obtained and the index was used to assess their surgical outcomes. Results: Assessment of these study models using the new index demonstrated excellent intra-examiner agreement. The inter-examiner agreement was shown to be good. The corresponding longitudinal models at 16 to 18 years of 54 of the initial 5- to 6-year-old sample were also acquired. These subjects had undergone orthodontic treatment but not orthognathic surgery. The need for osteotomy amongst these models was assessed. Between 13% and 18% (depending on examiner) of 5-year-olds' models were scored in the groups likely to require orthognathic surgery. In the corresponding 16- to 18-year-olds' models, 9% were assessed as...