The offspring of people with cerebral palsy

To test a hypothesis that a placental deficit as a possible cause of CP might be transmitted, 88 people with congenital CP were contacted by questionnaire and letters. They had had 122 children, 93 per cent of whom were reported to be normal. The frequency of miscarriages and toxaemia was normal. 5 per cent of the mothers had had emergency caesarean sections. Three mothers also had minor malformations. The mean gestational age of the children was 38.8 weeks and their mean birthweight was 3295g. The mean birthweight of the mothers born preterm was 984g and that of their babies was 3244g. Two of the 122 children had diplegia, four had malformations, one had trisomy 18 and there was one stillbirth.