Clinical Spectrum, Comorbidities, and Risk Factor Profile of Cerebral Palsy Children: A Prospective Study
Priyanka Minocha1, Sadasivan Sitaraman1, Pallavi Sachdeva1
1Department of Pediatrics, Sawai Man Singh Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
Insights
Asphyxia remains a leading cause of cerebral palsy (CP) in children, with spastic quadriplegia being the most common type. Understanding CP risk factors and comorbidities is crucial for prevention and targeted treatment.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Neurology
- Public Health
Background:
- Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent childhood motor disability.
- Effective management requires understanding its clinical spectrum, comorbidities, and risk factors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To delineate the clinical characteristics, associated comorbidities, and etiological factors in children diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
- To provide data that can inform prevention strategies and improve treatment outcomes for CP.
Main Methods:
- An observational, hospital-based study involving 180 children (aged 1-12 years) with CP.
- Data collection included detailed antenatal, natal, and postnatal history, physical examination, and classification of CP type.
Main Results:
- Natal asphyxia was identified as the primary risk factor (52.2%), followed by postnatal seizures.
- Spastic CP (84.4%) and quadriplegia (56.6%) were the most frequent types.
- Intellectual disability (47.7%) and epilepsy (41.6%) were the most common comorbidities.
Conclusions:
- Asphyxia continues to be a major preventable cause of CP, highlighting the need for improved healthcare.
- Spastic quadriplegia is the predominant clinical presentation of CP.
- Enhanced knowledge of CP's risk factors, spectrum, and comorbidities can guide interventions to improve patient outcomes and social integration.
Aim And Objective:
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability in childhood. This study aimed to describe clinical spectrum, comorbidities, and risk factors associated with CP children.
Materials And Methods:
This hospital-based observational study was conducted in tertiary level hospital in Jaipur including 180 CP children aged 1-12 years, attending the Paediatric Neurology Outdoor and Child Development Centre. A detailed history of antenatal, natal, and postnatal events taken and thorough examination was performed to stratify children in proper topographical and physiological classification.
Results:
Mothers of 47.7% CP children were primigravida and 17.7% mothers had anemia during pregnancy. Among natal factors, asphyxia contributed to maximum cases (52.2%). Seizure in postnatal life was the second most common risk factor for CP after asphyxia. Spastic CP (84.4%) was the most common physiological type, and quadriplegia (56.6%) was the most common topographical type observed in this study. Intellectual disability (47.7%) followed by epilepsy (41.6%) was the most common comorbidity.
Conclusion:
Even with the advancement of health-care system, asphyxia is the most common risk factor, and spastic quadriplegia is the most common type of CP. There is still a need of improving the health facilities to overcome this costly and common neuromotor disability. Widespread knowledge of common risk factors that can predispose to CP can prevent the CP development to some extent and knowledge of clinical spectrum, and comorbidities can improve their targeted treatment which can improve their growth and social participation.
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