Major structural congenital anomalies and causal pathways in people with cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy rarely has a sole cause; more often, a sequence or combination of factors contributes to the risk of brain injury and cerebral palsy. There has been recent interest in the contribution of congenital anomalies to the development of cerebral palsy. Congenital anomalies, or birth defects, are structural changes that occur while a baby is in the womb. They are known to occur more frequently in persons with cerebral palsy compared to people without cerebral palsy.

In this study, we wanted to know what proportion of persons had major anomalies and how they contributed to the development of cerebral palsy. We used information from a cerebral palsy register on 2238 persons with cerebral palsy born in the Australian state of Victoria between 1999 and 2017. We classified any known major congenital anomalies based on whether they affected the brain, heart, or another body system. We also determined the potential for the anomalies to contribute to the development of cerebral palsy.