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Published on: January 11, 2016
Understanding function and other outcomes in cerebral palsy
1Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnet Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45229-3039, USA. jilda.vargus-adams@cchmc.org
Insights
Accurately measuring the status of children with cerebral palsy (CP) is crucial for research and clinical care. Developing comprehensive outcome measurement strategies is essential for understanding CP and treatment effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Outcome Measurement Science
Background:
- Assessing and quantifying the status of children with cerebral palsy (CP) presents significant challenges in research and clinical management.
- The variability in CP manifestations and the need for comprehensive evaluations complicate the development of effective measurement strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the importance and challenges of outcome measurement in cerebral palsy.
- To discuss the current landscape and future directions of measurement strategies for CP.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing outcome measures for cerebral palsy.
- Discussion of the complexities in developing a robust measurement strategy for CP.
Main Results:
- A wide array of outcome measures exist to assess various aspects of disability in CP.
- Developing accurate, comprehensive, responsive, and broadly applicable measurement strategies is a complex but vital endeavor.
Conclusions:
- Effective outcome measurement is fundamental for advancing the understanding and treatment of cerebral palsy.
- The continued development and application of diverse outcome measures are essential for researchers and clinicians managing CP.
Abstract:
Describing the status of children with cerebral palsy (CP) and quantifying change in their status are 2 central challenges to research and clinical management of CP. The science of assessing and reporting status is outcome measurement, and it is rapidly developing in the arena of CP. Because of the large number of domains to measure, the variability of CP manifestations, and a limited number of "gold standard" evaluations, creating an accurate, comprehensive, responsive, and broadly applicable measurement strategy is a serious endeavor. A range of outcome measures are available to address CP issues across the spectrum of disability. The use of these measures, and others yet to be developed, provides researchers and clinicians the best means of understanding CP and the effects of treatments.
