Grommet Surgery in Children With Orofacial Clefts in England.

Objective:  To assess grommet insertion practice in the first 5 years of life among children with an orofacial cleft in England. Design:  Analysis of national administrative data of hospital admissions. Setting:  National Health Service hospitals, England. Patients:  Patients born between 1997 and 2005 who underwent surgical cleft repair. Intervention:  Children receiving grommets before the age of 5 years. Outcome Measures:  The proportion of children receiving grommets before the age of 5 years, the timing of the first grommet insertion, and the proportion of children having repeat grommet insertions were examined according to cleft type, the absence or presence of additional anomalies, socioeconomic deprivation, and region of residence. Results:  The study included 8,269 children. Before the age of 5 years, 3,015 (36.5%) children received grommets. Of these, 33.2% received their first grommets at primary cleft repair and 33.3% underwent multiple grommet insertion procedures. The most common age for the...