Abstract
Objective:
Evaluate the factors that influence caregiver-reported completion of nasoalveolar molding (NAM) therapy for patients with cleft lip and palate.
Design:
An IRB-approved 30-question survey.
Setting:
Outpatient clinic for patients with cleft lip.
Patients:
Patients with unilateral or bilateral cleft lip treated with NAM therapy.
Interventions:
Survey of previous experiences.
Main Outcome Measure(s):
Rate of noncompletion for patients initiating NAM therapy and identifiable causes.
Results:
Of 94 patients who underwent NAM, 13 (13.8%) failed to complete NAM therapy. Reasons for incomplete treatment included: obstructive sleep apnea, device intolerance, tape issues, and lack of support. Patients who did not complete NAM therapy were less likely to have primary caregivers >30-year old (P = .045) and more likely to be the first child for the family (P = .021) and have a bilateral cleft (P = .03). Caregivers of NAM patients were less satisfied with the outcome (P < .001) when they did not complete therapy.
Conclusion:
This study shows that a high number of parents fail to complete this therapy for many reasons, personal and medical. More data are needed to elucidate true prevalence of NAM noncompletion and to establish evidence-based guidelines to reduce barriers to care for completing NAM treatment.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
