Describing healthcare concerns of adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy

Abstract

AimTo identify healthcare concerns of adolescents and adults with cerebral palsy (CP) followed in a multidisciplinary rehabilitation program and identify patient factors associated with the number of concerns raised. MethodA retrospective chart review of initial consultations of 241 people with CP (53 % male) aged 14 years or older (mean 27 y 5mo, SD 13 y 2mo), over a three-year period. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data and explore associations. Poisson’s regression was used to predict healthcare concerns from patient demographic factors. ResultsA total of 2237 distinct concerns were raised by the participants, with a median of 9 (range 1–34) concerns per person. Ten healthcare concern categories were reported by more than 25 % of the sample. Only age was associated with the number of healthcare concerns (r = 0.25, p < 0.001). Age and GMFCS significantly predicted total number of healthcare concerns. InterpretationAdolescents and adults with CP reported a high number of healthcare concerns at the initial visit to the Transitional and Lifelong Care program and the number of concerns may increase with advancing age. The concerns identified span a variety of biopsychosocial spheres and supports the need for ongoing specialty and multidisciplinary care of this population through their adult years.