Cerebral Palsy Across the Lifespan, 2nd ed

Course Description:

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common childhood motor disability (I. Novak et al., 2017). It is defined as “a group of permanent disorders of the development of movement and posture causing activity limitation that are attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain” (P. Rosenbaum et al., 2007). Using data collected from three population centers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates the prevalence of CP in the United States to be 3 to 4 per 1,000 8-year-olds, or 1 in every 303 8-year-olds (Arneson et al., 2009; Christensen et al., 2014). These data are consistent with worldwide population-based studies that estimate the prevalence of CP as ranging from 1.5 to more than 4 per 1,000 births or children of a given age range (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011; I. Novak et al., 2017). Despite improved neonatal management, the prevalence of CP in children has been fairly stable over the past 30 to 40 years (Cans, De-la-Cruz, & Mermet, 2008; Christensen et al., 2014; Haak, Lenski, Hidecker, Li, & Paneth, 2009; Hidecker et al., 2012). However, improvements in perinatal care with the administration of antenatal corticosteroids and maternal magnesium sulfate have resulted in some decreases in the severity of disability (C. M. Novak, Ozen, & Burd, 2018). CP occurs slightly more frequently in boys than girls, at a 1.2:1 ratio, and more frequently in children who are non-Hispanic black compared to non-Hispanic white (Van Naarden Braun et al., 2016). More specifically, black children have a 50% increased risk of spastic CP compared to white children (Durkin et al., 2015). It is estimated that 1,000,000 children and adults who have CP are living in the United States, and many of these individuals are over the age of 45 (Tosi, Maher, Moore, Goldstein, & Aisen, 2009).