Abstract
Mathematical analysis of prenatal and perinatal risk factors was performed on the first 681 published cases of idiopathic congenital cerebral palsy (born 1959-1970) in the west Swedish population-based cerebral palsy (CP) study. Analysis indicates that an estimated 40\% of etiologically undiagnosed cases of CP in the community (48\% of those born at term and 24\% of those born prematurely) are genetically caused. These proportions of genetic causation are no less in CP than in idiopathic mental retardation. Genetic causes account for 60\% of maturely born hemiplegics, 45\% of maturely born spastic diplegics, 32\% of premature spastic diplegics and virtually all cases of pure ataxia. About 23\% of CP cases in the community have suffered nongenetic brain damage in accordance with the two-stage model. The residue of 37\% is characterized by a single risk factor, usually perinatal.
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