Male sex preponderance in cerebral palsy

Abstract

Introduction: Cerebral palsy affects 2 – 3 per 1000 live children. It is a group of movement and postural disorders due to non progressive lesion in the immature brain. There are several proposed antenatal, intra natal, and post natal risk factors associated with cerebral palsy. Males are more commonly affected than females for reasons not clearly known. Aim: The aim of this study is to analyse comparative incidence of cerebral palsy in male and female sex and also to analyse comparative incidence of cerebral palsy in preterm births in male and female babies. Materials & Methods: The present study was a retrospective cohort study. Data was collected from the parents of 200 cerebral palsy affected children during the perod 20012 – 2018 in the Rani Chandra Mani Devi Hospital, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The data was analysed regarding the sex distribution among the total children having cerebral palsy and also among the preterm birth children having cerebral palsy. Results: Of the 200 children affected with cerebral palsy 125 were males and 75 were females accounting to 62.24% of males and 37.75% of females. Of the 125 males, 32 were born preterm and among the 75 females, 22 were born preterm. Of the total 54 preterm births with cerebral palsy the percentage contribution of male to female is 59.25% and 40.74% respectively.Conclusion: This study reflects the male preponderance among the cerebral palsy affected children and also reflects the male preponderance among the preterm babies having cerebral palsy. However as this study involves a small group, study involving higher number of cerebral palsy children is needed, before coming to any final conclusions.