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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2002

Janneke Kennes
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, the Netherlands.
Peter Rosenbaum
Affiliation:
School of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Steven E Hanna
Affiliation:
School of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Stephen Walter
Affiliation:
School of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Dianne Russell
Affiliation:
School of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Parminder Raina
Affiliation:
Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Doreen Bartlett
Affiliation:
School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
Barbara Galuppi
Affiliation:
Ontario Motor Growth Study, CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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Abstract

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

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
© 2002 Mac Keith Press

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