Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the sensitivity to change of daily ratings of the comfort (COMF) and behavioral/emotional health (BEH) domains of the Infants with Clefts Observation Outcomes Instrument (iCOO) at 3 time points, and to assess the association of post-surgical interventions on iCOO ratings.
Design
The COMF and BEH domains were completed by caregivers before (T0), immediately after (T1), and 2-months after (T2) cleft lip (CL) surgery. Analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, t-tests, and generalized estimating equations.
Participants
Caregivers (N = 140) of infants with CL with/without cleft palate.
Main Outcome Measures
The COMF and BEH domain scores of the iCOO: Scale (SCALE), a summary of observable signs; and Global Impression (IMPR), a single item measuring caregivers’ overall impression.
Results
Daily COMF and BEH SCALE and IMPR scores changed significantly during T1 (P's < 0.001) but not T0 or T2. Day 1 and 7 T0 scores were significantly higher than Day 1 and 7 T1 scores (P's <0.001 to <0.012) but similar at T2 (P's > 0.05). After CL surgery, the combined use of immobilizers and nasal stents and the use of multiple feeding methods with treatment for gastroesophageal reflux were associated with lower daily scores in COMF and BEH SCALE and IMPR (P's: 0.040 to <0.001).
Conclusions
COMF and BEH iCOO scores were sensitive to daily changes in infant well-being following CL surgery. Future studies should further investigate impact of post-surgical treatments on infant well-being.
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.
