Causes Of Cerebral Palsy And Statistic Surround This Condition
Did you know that cerebral palsy is a medical condition that occurs in about every two or three children born out of every one thousand? In other words, about ten thousand infants born in the United States will develop CP each year. Many people have no idea it’s so common even though it’s been affecting children for generations. It’s not something that many people think about until it affects their family, but its important to know about the causes of cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy or CP for short is basically the term used to describe a group of disorders and impairments that affect the developing brain of infants. It can occur before or after birth and it can be caused by an injury, infection or some type of defect or lesion that affected the brain.
There are different types of cerebral palsy and each one will affect the child a little differently and in different degrees depending on the damage done. Fortunately cerebral palsy treatments have come a long way and there a few options to consider. There are not a lot of statistics available for CP even though it’s a condition that has been around for a long time. Still, the information below should give you an idea of just how serious it can be.
Cerebral palsy statistics:
• At this time, it’s estimated that about eight hundred thousand people living in the United States have some degree of cerebral palsy.
• It’s estimated that eight thousand infants are diagnosed with CP yearly.
• About eight percent of CP cases occur before the infant is one month old.
• It’s estimated that one thousand five hundred preschool age children are diagnosed with CP each year.
• About seventy percent of CP cases are the direct result of something disrupting the normal development of the brain before the child is born.
• About twenty-five percent of all children with cerebral palsy will end up being mentally impaired.
• Studies done in Atlanta by the Centers for Disease Control indicates about one out of every four hundred children ten years of age have some form of CP.
• About ten percent of CP cases occur after the child is born due to some type of injury to the brain.
• Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type of cerebral palsy and it affects about seventy to eighty percent of all patients.
• Athetoid cerebral palsy rates second and it affects about ten to twenty percent of all patients.
• Ataxic cerebral palsy is the least common affecting about five to ten percent of all patients.
• About thirty percent of all patients diagnosed with cerebral palsy have a combination of one or more types of CP.
For whatever reason a child has cerebral palsy, one thing is for sure, it’s something they will have to live with for the rest of their life. It can be challenging for the whole family to deal with this condition but with early detection and starting treatments as soon as possible, it can help to reduce the severity of this condition. Learn all you can about cerebral palsy, causes of cerebral palsy, and what signs to look for when you’re expecting a new addition to the family, because in the end it can make a huge difference to your lives.
