Aim:
We aimed to investigate the relationship between risk factors and the extension of involvement in children with cerebral palsy (CP).
Material and Method:
Sixty-eight CP patients who had applied to our hospital from region of Kağıthane were included in the study. Patients’ demographic data, clinical types of cerebral palsy, risk factors were determined and patients’ functional capacity was rated by Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) and PULSES profile.
Results:
Patients’ mean age was 11.40±6.36 years, 28 (41.2 %) of them were girls, 40 (57.4 %) of them were boys. Forty-one (60.3 %) patients were spastic with whole body involvement, 9 (13.2 %) were spastic hemiparetic, 6 (8.8 %) were spastic diparesic, 3 (4.4 %) were of diskinetic type. There was a reverse relationship in terms of age at diagnosis, GMFCS and PULSES profile scores. Patients who had been diagnosed at an earlier stage were less functional (p<0.05, r= −0.372). There was no significant effect of childbirth at the hospital or home on the prognosis of the disease (p>0.05). However low birth weight had a positive effect on PULSES profile score (p<0.05).
Conclusion:
Prevention of the disease is as important as rehabilitation of the CP patients. Relationship between risk factors and extension of involvement of the disease must be analysed well and health policies must be planned in accordance with this relation.
Keywords: Cerebral palsy, risk factors, functional capacity