PREVALENCE OF CEREBRAL-PALSY IN ALBERTA

Background: In spite of scattered reports to the contrary, concern is continually expressed that the frequency of cerebral palsy has not dec reased with modern perinatal/neonatal care. Overall, epidemiological i nformation on cerebral palsy is scant. The generally accepted prevalen ce is 2 to 2.5 per thousand school-age children. Methods: A population -based record linkage study of a presently living cohort of 96,359 chi ldren born from April, 1985 through March, 1988 and followed over an e ight-year tracking period captured the diagnostic codes for all fee-fo r-service physician claims, all hospital separations and individual bi rth data from the Department of Vital Statistics of the Government of Alberta. The ICD-9 code ''343'' was used to identify subjects. The chi ldhood prevalence and frequency by birthweight-specific sub-groups of cerebral palsy were determined. Results: Two hundred and forty-eight l iving children with confirmed cerebral palsy after age three years (co ngenital, 229 [92.3%]; probable acquired 19 [7.7%]) were identified gi ving an overall prevalence of 2.57 per 1000. Seventy percent were diag nosed before their third birthday. Cohort prevalence of cerebral palsy for low birthweight children (< 2500 grams) was 17.7, very low birthw eight (< 1500 grams), 78.5; and extremely low birthweight (< 1000 gram s), 98.4. Low birthweight children made up just over one-third of case s in this study. Conclusions: Cerebral palsy continues to affect a sig nificant number of children suggesting the prevalence of cerebral pals y has not decreased. The proportion of affected children with low birt hweight in this study is less than that reported in the literature.