Background: Cerebral palsy is the most common form of chronic motor disability that starts in childhood. The aim of this study is to determine the magnitude of cerebral palsy in Kano and environs as well as to highlight the types, aetiologic factors and associated co-morbidities.
Method: The medical records of 356 patients who attended the paediatric neurology clinic between January 1998 and December 2005 were examined and all those with diagnosis of cerebral palsy were studied. The relevant data extracted and analysed included age at first presentation, sex, physiologic form of cerebral palsy and co-morbidities.
Results: Of all the paediatric neurology cases, there were 151 (42.4%) cases of cerebral palsy. There were 95 males (62.9%) and 56 females (37.1%) giving a male female ratio of 1:7:1. The age range was 6 months 12 years. The difference between the two sexes was not statistically significant (P > 0.05) Birth asphyxia was the leading cause of cerebral palsy (45.7%), followed by neonatal jaundice (12.6%), seizure disorder (11.9%), meningitis (7.3%), prematurity (3.3%), encephalitis (2.6%), genetic disorder (1.3%), trauma (1.3%) and craniosynostosis ( 0.62%). In 20 (13.2%) cases, the aetiology was unknown. The physiologic forms of cerebral palsy observed included spastic (41.7%), mixed (29.8%), hypotonic (21.9%) and dyskinetic (6.6%). The most prevalent comorbid conditions included: speech impairment (15.2%), mental retardation (13.2%), auditory impairment (11.9%), strabismus (11.3%), seizure disorder (11%) and microcephaly (7.3%).
Conclusion: It is suggested that general improvement in perinatal health services will reduce the burden of the disease in Kano and environs.