Cerebral Palsy: Stats And Facts
This infographic originally appeared on the UKS Mobility website.
Cerebral Palsy is the general term for a number of neurological conditions that affect movement and co-ordination. Neurological conditions are caused by problems in the brain and nervous system. Cerebral palsy is caused by a problem in the part of the brain responsible for controlling muscles. The condition can occur if the brain develops abnormally or is damaged before, during or shortly after birth.
Please note: The numbers suggested in the infographic are mostly UK based.
Text version of infographic:
Some stats and more facts
Cerebral Palsy is caused by abnormal development or damage to the parts of the brain that control movement, balance, and posture. Although it’s not considered an overtly common disorder, thousands of children are born with it every year, requiring special care and attention.
Quick Fact Sheet
- Brain injury during the developmental stages of a fetus is responsible for 70% of CP cases.
- An additional 20% are diagnosed with congenital cerebral palsy due to a brain injury during the birthing process.
- It has been well documented throughout history, one of the first records being that of Hippocrates from the 5th century BC.
- William John Little, 1 19th century physician was the first person to have extensively studied the condition.
- There is no cure for CP; however, supportive treatments, medications, and surgery may help many individuals.
- CP is partly preventable through immunization of the mother and efforts to prevent head injuries in children.
CP is the most common movement disorder in children, occurring in about 2.1 per 1000 live births.
Some children have near normal adult lives with appropriate treatment.
Of those with CP, 28% have Epilepsy, 58% have difficulties with communication, at least 42% have problems with their vision, and 23 -56% has learning disabilities.
Symptoms:
Cerebral Palsy is neither contagious nor progressive. Although symptoms start becoming noticeable over the first few years of life but the underlying condition does not worsen with time.
- Vision issues
- Cognitive issues
- Pain
- Saliva control
- Speech problems
- Hearing loss
- Epilepsy
- Sleeping disorder
- Walking problems
- Behavioral and Emotional problems
Children with CP
Cerebral Palsy is considered a neurological birth defect although a child might not start showing symptoms well after being born – going undetected for months or years. Approximately 1,800 children are diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy every year.
The current UK incidence rate is around 1 in 400 births.
There are an estimated 30,000 children with Cerebral Palsy in the UK.
There are more boys born with Cerebral Palsy than girls.
For every 100 girls with Cerebral Palsy, there are 135 boys with Cerebral Palsy.
Just under a half of children with Cerebral Palsy were born prematurely.
1/3 of children with Cerebral Palsy are affected by hemiplegic spastic Cerebral Palsy.
About 1 in 20 children with Cerebral Palsy have dyskinetic and ataxic Cerebral Palsy.
About 1 in 3 children with Cerebral Palsy are unable to walk.
About 1 in 4 children with Cerebral Palsy cannot deed or dress themselves.
About 1 in 4 children with Cerebral Palsy cannot walk, and cannot use their hands.
About 1 in 4 children with Cerebral Palsy is reported to have epileptic seizure.
About 3 in 10 children with Cerebral Palsy have several learning difficulties.
About 1 in 11 children with Cerebral Palsy are blind or at least with any useful vision.
About 1 in 50 children with Cerebral Palsy are deaf or with severe hearing difficulty.
Life Expectancy
The fact of the matter is that disabilities caused by Cerebral Palsy renders the afflicted unable to enjoy some of the basic joys in life. Although it may not be an outright fatal affliction, children with CP do not have an altered life expectancy as compared to a normal, healthy child.
A child who is mildly affected by CP can expect to have much the same length of life as a child without CP.
A child of two who cannot walk has 3 chances in 4 to live adulthood.
Half of five year old children who cannot walk, and cannot feed or dress, have severe learning difficulties and are blind will live to be adults.
A child of two who cannot walk has 3 chances in 4 to live to adulthood.
A child of two who cannot walk, and cannot feed or dress himself, and has a severe learning difficulties is as likely as not to live to age 25.
Of a hundred children aged five who cannot walk, and cannot feed or dress themselves, 63 will live to 20, and 50 will live to age 30.
A quarter of two year old children who cannot walk, and cannot feed or dress, have severe learning difficulties and are blind will live into their 30s.
A child of two who cannot walk but is not otherwise severely affected, has a 95% to live to 20 years.
A child of two who cannot walk, or feed and dress herself, but who can see, and does not have severe learning difficulties has a 4 in 5 chance of reaching age 20 years.
A child of two who cannot walk, or feed and dress herself, and has severe learning difficulties, but who can see, has a 3 in 5 chance of reaching age 20 years.
If a person with Cerebral Palsy lives to age 18, they are more than likely to live beyond age 40.
1 in 5 of those children with Cerebral Palsy who die young have respiratory disease.
Adults with Cerebral Palsy die from the same diseases as other people. Heart attacks and strokes are common, as are cancers.
A child of two who cannot walk, or feed and dress herself, and has severe learning difficulties, and is blind has a 2 in 5 chance of reaching age 20 years.
A third of those children with Cerebral Palsy who die young have Cerebral Palsy as their underlying cause of death.
Only 1 in 25 of those children with Cerebral Palsy who die young have epilepsy as their underlying cause of death.
The Social Cost of Cerebral Palsy
Since Cerebral Palsy is a lifelong condition, children surviving into adulthood suffer from a wide range of social issues which can be directly co-related with their condition.
4 in 10 disabled children are living in poverty.
Only 32% of families with disabled children feel accepted by their local communities.
52% of disabled people have experienced discrimination at work.
The average cost of bringing up a disabled child are 3 times more than a non-disabled child.
Parents of disabled children are more likely to divorce.
Nearly a quarter of disabled people who need adapted accommodation don’t have it.
58% of disabled people have been victims of crime, 15% of which believe it was directly motivated by their impairment.
1 in 3 disabled people has been refused service or turned away from pubs, leisure centers, restaurants or other public places.
Sources:
http://www.thepacecentre.org/Groups/211054/Stats_And_Facts.aspx
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/staff/academic-research/hutton/scope4.pdf
http://www.ncb.org.uk/media/923252/earlysupportcerebral_palsy_final.pdf
http://www.scope.org.uk/support/families/diagnosis/cerebral-palsy
http://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/nicpr/RecentStatistics/
http://patient.info/doctor/cerebral-palsy-pro
http://www.neural.org.uk/store/assets/files/20/original/NeuroNumbers.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
http://www.efds.co.uk/resources/facts_and_statistics
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Cerebral-palsy/Pages/introduction.aspx
http://www.cerebralpalsy.org.uk/
http://www.birthinjuryguide.org/cerebral-palsy/statistics/
http://www.webmd.com/brain/understanding-cerebral-palsy-basic-information
Image source: CDC
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