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Health status of school-aged children with cerebral palsy: information from a population-based sample
Janneke Kennes1, Peter Rosenbaum, Steven E Hanna
1Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
Insights
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) experience significant functional limitations in mobility, dexterity, speech, and vision, strongly correlating with CP severity. Hearing and cognition also show links to CP severity, but emotion and pain do not.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Neurology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
Background:
- Cerebral palsy (CP) affects school-aged children, impacting motor function and overall health status.
- Understanding the relationship between motor impairment severity and various health domains is crucial for comprehensive care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between the severity of functional motor impairment in children with CP and eight functional health status domains.
- To provide data for clinical and epidemiological implications regarding children with CP.
Main Methods:
- Systematic accounts of health status from parents of 408 school-aged children with CP.
- Utilized the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) to classify CP severity.
- Assessed functional health status using the eight-level Health Utilities Index-Mark 3.
Main Results:
- Significant associations found between GMFCS levels and limitations in Mobility (tau-b=0.82), Dexterity (tau-b=0.58), Speech (tau-b=0.46), and Vision (tau-b=0.36).
- Lower, but statistically significant, correlations were observed for Hearing (tau-b=0.16) and Cognition (tau-b=0.27) with GMFCS levels.
- No significant association was found between GMFCS levels and limitations in Emotion or Pain.
Conclusions:
- Motor impairment severity in CP is strongly linked to functional limitations in mobility, dexterity, speech, and vision.
- While hearing and cognition are also associated with CP severity, emotion and pain appear independent of motor impairment levels in this population.
Abstract:
In this study parents' systematic accounts of the health status of 408 school-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) are reported (221 males, 187 females; mean age 8 years 5 months, SD 1 year 11 months; range 5 to 13 years), as are relations between severity of functional motor impairment and eight functional health status domains. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal study of the motor development of a population-based, stratified, random sample of children with CP from across Ontario, Canada. The Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) was used to classify severity of CP and functional health status was described with the eight-level Health Utilities Index-Mark 3. Rates of functional limitations in Mobility, Dexterity, Speech, and Vision were statistically significantly associated with GMFCS levels (all p<0.01), with correlation values (tau-b) of 0.82, 0.58, 0.46, and 0.36, respectively. Functional limitations in hearing (tau-b=0.16; p=0.04) and cognition (tau-b=0.27; p<0.01) were both statistically significantly associated with GMFCS levels, though correlations were low. Neither emotion (tau-b=0.03; p=0.24) nor pain (tau-b=0.07; p=0.37) was associated with degree of functional limitation as described by the GMFCS. Clinical and epidemiological implications of findings are discussed.
