Occurrence and Severity of Deformational Plagiocephaly in Infants: A Single Center Experience.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the occurrence and severity of deformational plagiocephaly among infants.

METHODS: A hospital-based, cross-sectional study was done in the pediatric ward of a tertiary care hospital between April 1, 2022 to October 31, 2022. Cranial Vault Asymmetry Index (CVAI) and Argenta Clinical Classification were applied to consecutive infants aged 1 month to 1 year till the calculated sample size was achieved.

RESULTS: 67 infants were recruited and the occurrence of deformational plagiocephaly in the sample was estimated to be 46.3%. Level 2 severity of deformational plagiocephaly was the commonest, while as per the Argenta classification, majority belonged to type I (39.2%). Male gender and developmental delay were the significant risk factors for plagiocephaly with an odds ratio (95% CI) of 3.73 (1.23, 11.26) and 19.25 (2.31, 160.3), respectively.

CONCLUSION: A high occurrence of deformational plagiocephaly was found in infants studied. There is a need for more studies to further corroborate these findings and study its associated factors.