A study of clinico etiological profile of children with cerebral palsy in a tertiary care centre

Abstract

The clinical spectrum of Cerebral palsy (CP) can differ in various places depending upon the knowledge of the people and resources for prevention, diagnosis and management. Although studied extensively in high-resource countries, adequate data related to CP from resource-constraint settings are lacking. The aim: The present study is a descriptive study done on clinical profiles, aetiology, and comorbidities. Materials and methods: Present study is a hospital-based descriptive study of 80 children with Cerebral Palsy from January 2020 to June 2021 (18 months) admitted to Niloufer Hospital for Child Health, cases chosen as per inclusion criteria guided by "The Definition and classification of cerebral palsy, April 2006 International consensus". Clinical history and clinical examination and necessary investigations using a systematically designed proforma Results: The most common types were spastic type (78.9 %) and hypotonic type (12.5 %). Spastic quadriparesis (55 %) was the most common among subtypes. Males were more affected than females, with more rural than urban distribution. 48.8 % belonged to the lower middle and 37.5 % to the upper lower class of socio-economic status. Consanguinity was observed in 33 %, and 3 % had a similar family history. A high incidence (65 %) was seen in firstborn children. Term gestation was commonest at 87 % and prematurity at 13 %. 91.3 % of the cases were institutional deliveries. For causes of cerebral palsy, 45 % required resuscitation at birth, 2.5 % had neonatal sepsis, 1.25 % had a cerebral malformation, 7.5 % had an intracranial bleed, 7.5 % had post-meaning encephalitic sequelae, 1.3 % had TORCH infection. Comorbidities Like mental retardation were seen in 90 %, seizure disorder in 87.5 %, visual problems in 24.8 %, hearing problems in 13.75 %, 56.25 % of cases were malnourished. Conclusions: Comorbidities are significantly observed in cases of cerebral palsy. Appropriate screening and management of comorbidities, especially vision, hearing, speech, seizures, and nutrition, improve the overall prognosis in cases of Cerebral palsy.