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. 2023 Jul;37(5):404-412.
doi: 10.1111/ppe.12950. Epub 2023 Feb 1.

Public health indicators for cerebral palsy: A European collaborative study of the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe network

Catherine Arnaud  1   2   3 , Virginie Ehlinger  1   2 , Annie Perraud  4 , Agnieszka Kinsner-Ovaskainen  4 , Dana Klapouszczak  1   2 , Kate Himmelmann  5 , Mariana Petra  6 , Gija Rackauskaite  7 , Monica Lanzoni  4 , Mary-Jane Platt  8 , Malika Delobel-Ayoub  1   2
Affiliations

Public health indicators for cerebral palsy: A European collaborative study of the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe network

Catherine Arnaud et al. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Public health indicators (PHIs) play an increasingly important role in health policy decision-making. Although cerebral palsy (CP) is the commonest physical disability in children, its impact at population level has not been systematically measured so far.

Objectives: We aimed to propose six PHIs for CP designed to annually document the extent of CP and effectiveness of perinatal organisation, the burden of this condition, access to health services and preventive health strategies in the post-neonatal period and to report on the latest updated estimations using population-based data routinely collected by European CP registries.

Methods: The study included children with CP born between 2002 and 2011. Harmonised data (number of cases, functional profile, imaging) were extracted from the Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe (SCPE) database. Eligibility criteria for analyses were applied separately for each indicator by selecting registries, birth years and CP cases. Current estimates were based on the last 3 birth years, while trends were reported over a 10-year period. All analyses were descriptive. Sensitivity analyses were carried out to examine the stability of the results using various thresholds of percentages of missing values.

Results: Analyses were performed on a total of 8621 children with CP from 12 to 17 SCPE registries. A decreasing prevalence of pre/perinatal CP overall, as well as in preterm and full-term-born children, was observed. The burden of the condition was strongly dependent on CP subtype and the presence of associated impairments. Access to brain imaging ranged from 80% to 100% depending on registries. The overall prevalence of post-neonatally acquired CP was approximately 0.8 per 10,000 live births over the study period.

Conclusions: Population-based CP registries can provide data that are relevant for generating key outcomes of interest at the population level, thus potentially contributing to improving public health policies for children with disabilities.

Keywords: cerebral palsy; children; health indicators; population-based registries.

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Comment in

  • Cerebral palsy as a public health indicator.
    Paneth N. Paneth N. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023 Jul;37(5):413-414. doi: 10.1111/ppe.12977. Epub 2023 Apr 4. Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol. 2023. PMID: 37016539 No abstract available.

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