Probability of Walking in Children With Cerebral Palsy in Europe

Abstract

The collaboration Surveillance of Cerebral Palsy in Europe provides a powerful means of monitoring trends in cerebral palsy and its functional consequences. The proportion of nonwalking in children with cerebral palsy seems to be rather stable over years and across centers despite the changes that have occurred in neonatal care across Europe. As is well known and also shown in this study, walking ability varied strongly with cerebral palsy type. Additional impairments, as well as the presence of epilepsy, correlated significantly with walking ability and, thus, the walking ability can be an indicator of total disability load.