Development of disorder-specific normative data for growth in children with cerebral palsy

The purpose of this study was to create growth-percentiles for Caucasian children with cerebral palsy (CP). The studied parameters were height and age. In a retrospective analysis, we converted measurements collected in our center to create disorder-specific percentiles of normative data. Patients were stratified due to sex (male and female) and to mobility levels using the gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) (A = walking; GMFCS I-III, B = non walking; GMFCS IV-V) into four groups. In total, 2363 measurements in patients 0-18 years were collected. The mean age for group "Am" was 6.8 years (n = 862), group "Bm" 7.6 years (n = 563), group "Af" 7.7 years (n = 600), and group "Bf" 8.2 years (n = 366). The created percentiles for all groups were below the reference percentiles for healthy Caucasian children (KiGGS). The median curve for children with GMFCS levels I-III is slightly above the 3rd percentile, whereas the 50th percentile for GMFCS levels IV-V is mostly below the 3rd KiGGS centile.Conclusion: In conclusion, children with cerebral palsy are smaller than healthy children. The difference between 50th percentile of CP patients compared to healthy children supports the need for the use of disorder-specific growth charts. Those charts can help clinicians differentiate growth disorders in patients with CP. What is Known: • Children with cerebral palsy are shorter than healthy children and height is influenced by level of ambulation. • Currently, only reference percentiles of American children with mixed ethical backgrounds are available to evaluate growth. What is New: • This paper presents disorder-specific reference percentiles for longitudinal growth of Caucasian children with cerebral palsy depending on motor function. • These percentiles allow to asses longitudinal growth in children with cerebral palsy to detect other additional diseases impairing growth.