Cerebral Palsy in Tabriz Children’s Medical Center

Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most common disabling conditions affecting children. It is a nonprogressive encephalopathy. Motor delay is the hallmark of CP. It can occur as a result of injury in each phase of brain growth and may be accompanied by speech, auditory, visual abnormalities, seizures, learning disorders and mental retardation. The most important risk factors are prematurity and low birth weight. The purpose of this paper is to present the etiology, types (classification), associated disorders and motor development of these children in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan, Iran. For two years, we studied 155 children under 11 years old. Cases were those referred to the Rehabilitation Center of Tabriz Children’s Hospital with a diagnosis of CP. Information was collected using checklists. Nearly one third (34.8%) of the patients were under two years old of which 62.6% were males. Quadriplegic form was recorded as the most frequent type (46.5%), diplegic was 38.7% and hemiplegic 7.8%. There were 70% of the children with spastic CP. Other forms included: 10.3% mixed, 14.2% hypotonic, and 5.2% athetoid. Speech disorders and strabismus were the most common associated disorders (47.7% and 41.2%, respectively). Of the children studied, 18.8% had prominent cognitive problems and 17.5% had seizures. Low birth weight and prematurity were the most common risk factors (63.3% and 51.3%, respectively). The mean age of head control and sitting were 11.55±8.76 and 21.53±14.26 months, respectively. In the age group of 2 – 6 year olds, 64% walked with assistance. The most important risk factors for CP are low birth weight and prematurity which provide a powerful means of developmental monitoring and follow-up for these neonates. More than 60% of children with CP became ambulatory and prominent cognitive problem are seen only in 18% of patients studied, therefore early intervention and rehabilitation can decrease the impact of brain injury on the development of patients with cerebral palsy.