[Accompanying problems in children with cerebral palsy and their relationship to type and level of motor disability]

ABSTRACT

There are some accompanying problems in children with cerebral palsy. These problems may affect the children and their family even more than cerebral palsy. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of six common accompanying problems and their relationship to type and level of motor function. In this study, 120 children aged 2 to 14 years old were selected from 4 rehabilitation centers in Tehran. At first consent of the child's mothers were obtained, and then child's medical history was gathered and accompanying problems were extinguished. The gross motor function level and the type of cerebral palsy were determined. The data was analyzed by SPSS-16 using kolmogrov smironov test and spearman's rho correlation coefficient. The speech disorder was the most and hearing problem was the least common among children. The type of cerebral palsy was associated significantly with intellectual disabilities, speech, feeding problems and number of problems [p<0.05].There was significant correlation between Gross motor function classification system and intellectual disabilities, speech, feeding problems, seizure and number of problems [p<0.05]. According to high occurrence of accompanying problems in children with cerebral palsy especially more severe ones, early detection and treatment of these problems could enhance the quality of life of the children and their family