Head dimensions in children with and without cerebral palsy in Kano.

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a chronic motor function disorder which occurs in children.

Aim: To evaluate the head dimensions in children who have CP and those without in Kano.

Methodology: A cross-sectional study of 110 normal and 70 children who have CP. The age, sex, head breadths (HB), head circumferences (HC), and head lengths (HL) were obtained. The data were analyzed in Minitab 17.0 and expressed as mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). Student's -t-test and Pearson's correlations were used to determine the differences and relationships between variables. P-values <0.05 was considered significant.

Results: Children without CP had significantly larger head dimensions (p < 0.05) compared to those with CP. No sexual dimorphism (p > 0.05) was observed in head dimensions for children with or without CP. In children with CP, age showed significant correlations (p < 0.05) with head dimensions, with the strongest correlation found for head circumference (p < 0.001). Head length and head breadth were significantly correlated (p < 0.001) in both groups, with a stronger correlation in children with CP.

Conclusion: This study concludes that children with cerebral palsy (CP) have smaller head dimensions compared to non-CP children, however, no observed sexual dimorphism observed among the two groups.