PMID: 8999573Oct 30, 1996Paper

A changing panorama of cerebral palsy? A population-based study of children born during the 20-year period 1970-89

Tidsskrift for den Norske lægeforening : tidsskrift for praktisk medicin, ny række
A Meberg, H Broch

Abstract

In a population-based study cerebral palsy was diagnosed in 110 cases (2.4 per 1,000) among live born children with birth weight > or = 500 g (N = 45,976) during the 20-year period 1970-89 (cerebral palsy cases with a postneonatal etiology excluded). The incidence of cerebral palsy showed a linear declining trend from 2.8 per 1,000 in the first five-year cohort born 1970-74 to 2.0 per 1,000 in children born 1985-89 (p = 0.17). 15.9% of the decline in incidence of cerebral palsy from the first to the second ten-year cohort could be explained by a decreasing rate of low birth weight (500-2,499 g) in the population, from 4.2% 1970-79 to 3.8% 1980-89 (p < 0.05). The neonatal mortality rate declined significantly from 7.2 per 1,000 in the first to 3.9 per 1,000 in the last ten-year cohort respectively (p < 0.01). More children with cerebral palsy born in the ten-year period 1980-89 were treated with mechanical ventilation in the neonatal period (13/46; 28.3%) than such children born in the ten-year period 1970-79 (4/64; 6.3%) (p < 0.01). The results contrast with the traditional findings of a higher incidence of cerebral palsy incidence following improved survival of infants with low birth weight. Our results may reflect a more inte...Continue Reading

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Birth Defects

Birth defects encompass structural and functional alterations that occur during embryonic or fetal development and are present since birth. The cause may be genetic, environmental or unknown and can result in physical and/or mental impairment. Here is the latest research on birth defects.