Cerebral Palsy Kids Are Generally Happy

August 9, 2007

A study by Allan Colver, MD, of England's Newcastle University says children with cerebral palsy feel they have a good quality of life and self image.

"Many parents are upset when their child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy," Colver writes, "but they can now be reassured that most children with cerebral palsy who can provide information when eight to 12 years old experience similar quality of life to that of other children their age."

Colver's team studied about 800 children 8 to 12 years old with cerebral palsy. During in-home interviews, the children rated various aspects of their lives, including pain, psychological and physical well-being, autonomy, social acceptance, and relationships with their parents.

61% of the cerebral palsy kids completed the surveys. The remaining 39% had more severe cerebral palsy and ha ddifficulty answering the questions.

Children With Cerebral Palsy

The completed surveys indicated, in kids with cerebral palsy, that generally their cerebral palsy did not affect their quality of life.

Three exceptions:

Physical well-being got lower ratings from kids whose cerebral palsy caused physical disabilities.

Those with intellectual disabilities caused by their cerebral palsy reported mroe sadness than others.

Kids whose cerebral palsy made it harder to speak reported their relationship with their parents was not as good as the cerebral palsy kids without speech impediments.

According to Colver, the quality-of-life ratings from the children with cerebral palsy were similar to those of children without cerebral palsy in a previous study.

The study was first published in The Lancet, along with an editorial by experts including Olaf Dammann, MD, of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

Dammann's team notes that the study may not reflect quality of life for children with severe cerebral palsy, but the study's findings "offer reassurance" and "provide food for thought for clinicians who offer guidance to parents of newborn babies at risk of cerebral palsy."