Quality of Life in Adolescents and Young Adults with Cleft Lip and Palate with and Without Speech Therapy During COVID-19.

Objective: Cleft-related speech concerns can affect the quality of life (QOL) in patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP). During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), in-person speech therapy (ST) was restricted due to fear of getting infected. This study aimed to compare QOL in patients with CLP with and without ST during the pandemic.

Design: Cross-sectional Study.

Setting: CLP team at Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS).

Patients/participants: Thirty-six CLP subjects with a mean age of 17.33 ± 4 years participated in two groups, including with and without ST. Fifteen subjects had cleft palate only (CPO) and others had CLP.

Interventions: ST group received at least 10 ST sessions, and group without ST didn't receive ST during COVID-19.

Main Outcome Measure(s): A virtual link of demographic and QOL adolescent cleft (QoLAdoCleft) questionnaires were sent to fill out. Results were extracted and transferred to SPSS.

Results: Total and subscales' scores of QoLAdoCleft were lower in ST group than without ST but differences between them weren't statistically significant ( > .05). Furthermore, according to cleft type, there weren't any statistically significant differences in total, physical, and social subscales of QoLAdoCleft ( > .05); however, psychological subscale in CLP had a higher significant score than CPO ( < .05).

Conclusions: QOL was weak in all patients with CLP, and receiving/not receiving ST couldn't make noticeable differences between them. It seems; COVID-19 pandemic can have an adverse effect on these results. Also, subjects with CLP had weaker psychological than CPO due to negative psychosocial feedback related to Orofacial deformities received from society.