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. 2025 Apr 29;25(1):335.
doi: 10.1186/s12887-025-05681-x.

Characteristics of children with ataxic cerebral palsy

Katina Pettersson  1   2 , Mette Johansen  3 , Reidun Jahnsen  4   5 , Elisabet Rodby-Bousquet  6   7   4
Affiliations

Characteristics of children with ataxic cerebral palsy

Katina Pettersson et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Background: To compare the characteristics, functional levels, and comorbidities of children with ataxic cerebral palsy (CP), with those of children with other CP subtypes.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of children with CP born between 2000 and 2019 as reported in the Scandinavian national CP follow-up programmes and quality registries. Data for age, sex, levels of the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS), the Communication Function Classification System (CFCS), epilepsy, intellectual disability, and pain were extracted.

Results: There were 302 children (3.9%) with ataxic CP and 7336 children (96.1%) with other subtypes. Children with ataxic CP differed significantly from other subtypes, with a greater proportion classified in GMFCS II (37.7% vs. 15%), MACS II (41.4% vs. 24.8%), and CFCS II (24.7% vs. 10.5%), more girls (50.7% vs. 41.7%), school-aged (47% vs. 41.6%), adolescents (33.4% vs. 25.4%), or had an intellectual disability (51.2% vs. 38.4%), but the prevalence of pain and epilepsy was similar between the subtypes.

Conclusions: Children with ataxic CP have different characteristics and functional levels than children with other subtypes. We recommend a thorough examination of motor performance, communication, and intellectual disability to meet the individual needs of children with ataxic CP.

Not applicable.

Keywords: Adolescent; Ataxia; Brain damage; Cerebral palsy; Child; Chronic.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval was obtained from the Regional Ethics Review Board, Lund, 2018/1000 in Sweden, from the Regional Committees for Medical and Health Research Ethics 2017/2457 REK South-East D in Norway, and from Aalborg University Hospital, Region Nordjylland, No. 2019 − 138 in Denmark. The study was carried out in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki, the national legislations, and the institutional requirements. The legal caregivers of all participants gave their informed consent for data held in the registry to be used for research and publication. Written consent from the parents or legal guardians was not required for this research based on stored data. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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