Developmental disorder – an early sign of cerebral palsy

Background. Cerebral palsy is one of the most important causes of disability in children. Intensive rehabilitation in cerebral palsy is personalized in accord with the deficits, activity limitations and participation restrictions, but an early etiological and clinical diagnosis in a multidisciplinary approach, to differentiate cerebral palsy from other causes of neurodevelopmental disorders, is required to direct the pharmacological approach and prognosis. Aims. This paper presents the first study on a Romanian population in terms of the most relevant cerebral palsy risk factors and their relation to the age when cerebral palsy was diagnosed, aiming to support a possible early diagnosis prediction model. Method. Retrospective study conducted on a group of 320 children diagnosed with developmental disorder admitted to the Department for Children Neuro-Psychomotor Rehabilitation of the Psychiatry Hospital in Sibiu during 2015-2018. Results. The number of neurodevelopmental disorders generated by cerebral palsy in the examined group is relatively small (11.56%). The highest proportion of neurodevelopmental disorders in children with cerebral palsy (according to the subsequent diagnosis) was seen in children born under 30 weeks of pregnancy, exhibiting perinatal intracranial hemorrhage and displaying increased muscle tone and seizures. Conclusions. The study establishes correlations between the variables assessed, which may point to a formula for predicting the diagnosis of cerebral palsy in children initially examined for a developmental disorder.