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Cerebral Palsy

To be classified as cerebral palsy (CP), there must be difficulty in neuromotor control, a nonprogressive brain lesion, and an injury to the brain that occurred before it was fully mature. The term "cerebral palsy" should be used only if a static encephalopathy exists. If there is any question that a progressive central nervous system disorder exists, the term "cerebral palsy" should not be used diagnostically until the status of the lesion is clarified.

Although the primary abnormality must be a motor deficit, often there are many associated symptoms of cerebral dysfunction present.

Incidence and Prevalence

The prevalence of CP has changed very little over the past 40 years, in spite of many technological advances that have decreased mortality in compromised preterm and full-term infants. The prevalence rate has been estimated to be between 2 and 5 per 1000 live births. At 12 months of age, the prevalence rate was estimated to be 5.2 per 1000, but at 7 years of age, the rate was estimated to be 2 per 1000 live births. This indicates that many children who showed signs or experienced symptoms suggesting a motor disorder did not have CP on follow-up.

The past 3 decades have seen an increased survival rate of very small preterm infants, resulting in a change in the percentage rates of the different clinical types of motor disabilities among patients classified as having CP.

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