Epidemiology of spastic tetraplegic cerebral palsy in Sweden. I. Impairments and disabilities.
Neuropediatrics, 20 (1):
41--45 (February 1989)Abstract
Ninety-six children and adolescents, born in 1959-78, with spastic tetraplegic cerebral palsy (TPL) were studied in terms of impairments and disabilities. The series was population-based and derived from 15 Swedish counties, and the city of Gothenburg, a population of 4.5 million people in all. All the patients had a pronounced motor disability with severe spastic pareses of all four limbs, and all of them were severely mentally retarded. None of them could speak. Ninety-four percent had epilepsy, 47\% were severely impaired visually. Additional impairments were hip luxation(s) in 75\%, severe contractures in 73\% and scoliosis in 72\%. Sixty-eight percent of cases had secondary microcephaly; 13\% were born microcephalic. - The general uniformity of the severity and multiplicity of the impairment and disability pattern is emphasized - making the TPL group suitable for scientific care load studies on the basic requirements for the care of the profoundly retarded with maximum multi-handicaps.