PP06.2 – 2223: The health status of children with severe cerebral palsy attending a tertiary referral centre in a resource limited setting

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to document the health status of children with severe cerebral palsy attending a tertiary referral centre in a resource limited setting using the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ). Methods Children with severe CP (GMFCS IV and V) between the ages of 5 and 18 years were recruited from the specialist cerebral palsy clinic. Healthy controls were recruited from medical and surgical outpatient departments at the same institution. The CHQ PF 28 caregiver questionnaire was completed by parents or caregivers and used to measure the parent's perception of their child's physical (PHY) and psychosocial (PSY) health. Ethics approval was obtained from the health sciences research ethics committee. Results The physical summary scores for children with severe cerebral palsy (median = 12.3, IQR = 5.57–31.03) were lower compared to the physical summary scores of the control group (median= 43.10, IQR=39.31–53.33). The psychosocial summary scores for children with cerebral palsy (median = 40.15, IQR = 32.52–47.59) were also lower when compared to the summary scores for control group (47.8, IQR = 37.77–54.69) The summary scores of children with cerebral palsy were lower when compared to reference samples as well as published international reports of children with cerebral palsy. No correlation was found between sex, socioeconomic background, presence of epilepsy, hearing or visual impairment, feeding difficulties or nutritional status and summary scores. Conclusion The health status of children with severe CP attending a tertiary referral centre in a resource limited setting as reported by the CHQ PF 28 is lower when compared to controls from the same setting. It is also lower compared to international reports of children with cerebral palsy. Further exploration of the factors which affect quality of life of children with cerebral palsy in resource limited settings is indicated.