In 2016, "World Journal of Surgery" published the comprehensive independent study "Economic Valuation of the Global Burden of Cleft Disease Averted by a Large Cleft Charity", which was conducted using data from 547,769 Smile Train patient records of primary cleft procedures (58 percent cleft lip repairs, 42 percent cleft palate repairs). The study measured the economic impact of cleft repair surgery over a ten-year period (2001–2011) and " the burden of disease averted through the global surgical work of a large cleft charity". It concluded that for each $250 cleft repair surgery, as much as $50,000 is returned to the local economy as patients contribute to productivity. The total economic impact achieved as a result of their cleft repair surgeries in 83 countries between 2001 and 2011 amounts to as much as $27 billion.