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Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy
08:26

Event-related Potentials During Target-response Tasks to Study Cognitive Processes of Upper Limb Use in Children with Unilateral Cerebral Palsy

Published on: January 11, 2016

The functional muscle-bone unit in children with cerebral palsy

I Duran1, F Schütz2, S Hamacher3

  • 1Center of Prevention and Rehabilitation, University of Cologne, Lindenburger Allee 44, 50931, Cologne, Germany. Ibrahim.duran@unireha-koeln.de.

Osteoporosis International : a Journal Established As Result of Cooperation Between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA
|April 3, 2017
PubMed

Insights

Bone health deficits in children with cerebral palsy (CP) may be overestimated. Using the functional muscle-bone unit algorithm (FMBU-A) significantly reduced the prevalence of positive findings, suggesting it is a more accurate assessment tool.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Orthopedics
  • Bone Metabolism

Background:

  • Bone health deficits in children with cerebral palsy (CP) are often assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).
  • Standard age- and height-adjusted bone mineral content (BMC) and areal bone mineral density (aBMD) may overestimate deficits due to reduced muscle activity in CP.
  • The functional muscle-bone unit diagnostic algorithm (FMBU-A) offers a potential alternative by incorporating muscle activity considerations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To compare the prevalence of bone health deficits in children with CP using standard DXA metrics versus the FMBU-A.
  • To determine if standard assessment methods overestimate bone health issues in this population.

Main Methods:

  • A retrospective analysis of 297 whole-body DXA scans from children with CP was conducted.
  • Prevalence of positive results for age- and height-adjusted BMC and aBMD (below P3 percentile) was calculated.
  • Prevalence of positive results using the FMBU-A was also calculated and compared.

Main Results:

  • Age-adjusted BMC and aBMD indicated deficits in 33.3% and 50.8% of children, respectively.
  • Height-adjusted BMC and aBMD showed positive results in 16.8% and 36.0% of cases.
  • The FMBU-A identified significantly lower prevalence of deficits (8.8% for BMC, 14.8% for aBMD) compared to standard methods (p < 0.001).

Conclusions:

  • Standard age- and height-adjusted DXA metrics likely overestimate bone health deficits in children with CP.
  • The FMBU-A provides a more accurate assessment by accounting for reduced muscle activity.
  • The study recommends the use of the FMBU-A for evaluating bone health in children with CP.

Keywords:
Cerebral palsyDual-energy X-ray absorptiometryFractureMuscle-bone interactionsOsteoporosis

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