Retrospective assessment of early growth characteristics in cerebral palsy subtypes

Abstract

Children with quadriplegic cerebral palsy (CP) have growth rates that differ from those of healthy children, and a separate growth chart has been developed for clinical evaluation of growth in patients diagnosed with CP. It is unknown whether the growth patterns of children with hemiplegic or diplegic CP differ from patients with quadriplegic CP or from normal. The purpose of this study was to compare the growth rate of children with quadriplegic, hemiplegic, and diplegic cerebral palsy. If differences in growth rate are observed, additional research will be conducted to assess the need for new growth curves for hemiplegic and diplegic diagnostic categories.