RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of cerebral palsy in local children aged 6 to 12 years and to evaluate service utilisation by those children who attend mainstream schools. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Mainstream primary schools and special needs schools in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: Headmasters or headmistresses of special needs schools, and various organisations that provide services to children with cerebral palsy in the school year September 2003 to June 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of cerebral palsy and support services used by children with cerebral palsy who attend a mainstream school. RESULTS: Of 435 572 children, 578 with cerebral palsy were identified. The overall point prevalence was 1.3 per 1000 children. The age-specific prevalence rate varied from 1.04 to 1.50 per 1000 children. Approximately 38% of children with cerebral palsy attended a mainstream school. Among those studying in special needs schools, 96% attended a school for the physically handicapped or a school for the severely mentally handicapped. Among 219 children with cerebral palsy in mainstream schools, 57 (26%) received educational support, and 134 (61%) received out-patient therapy support. Only 12% received both supporting services. No educational or therapeutic support was received by 26% of children. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with overseas data, the low prevalence of cerebral palsy detected in local children in this investigation may be due to the differences in study design or a genuinely low prevalence. Setting up a cerebral palsy registry could help monitor the local prevalence of this childhood disability more accurately, thereby providing more reliable information for planning support services for this subgroup of children.
