Health status of school-aged children with cerebral palsy: information from a population-based sample

• DOI: 10.1017/s0012162201002018
• Publication Date: 2005-09-07T13:58:07Z
• Authors: Janneke Kennes; Peter Rosenbaum; Steven E Hanna; Stephen Walter; Dianne Russell; Parminder Raina; Doreen Bartlett; Barbara Galuppi
• Keywords: Male; Adolescent; Cerebral Palsy; Health Status; Severity of Illness Index; Disabled Children; 03 medical and health sciences; Cognition; Cross-Sectional Studies; 0302 clinical medicine; Motor Skills; Child, Preschool; Population Surveillance; Activities of Daily Living; Humans; Speech; Female; Child; Vision, Ocular

In this study parents' systematic accounts of the health status 408 school-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) are reported (221 males, 187 females; mean age 8 years 5 months, SD 1 year 11 months; range to 13 years), as relations between severity functional motor impairment and eight domains. Data were collected part a longitudinal development population-based, stratified, random sample CP from across Ontario, Canada. The Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) was used classify described eight-level Health Utilities Index-Mark 3. Rates limitations in Mobility, Dexterity, Speech, Vision statistically significantly associated GMFCS levels (all p<0.01), correlation values (tau-b) 0.82, 0.58, 0.46, 0.36, respectively. Functional hearing (tau-b=0.16; p=0.04) cognition (tau-b=0.27; p<0.01) both levels, though correlations low. Neither emotion (tau-b=0.03; p=0.24) nor pain (tau-b=0.07; p=0.37) degree limitation by GMFCS. Clinical epidemiological implications findings discussed.