Mortality from 1 to 16-18 years in bilateral cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVE: To ascertain mortality from 1 to 18 years, and predictors of mortality. DESIGN: Long-term follow-up of population cohort born 1989-1992. SETTING: Births in South East Thames Region. PATIENTS: 346 children with bilateral cerebral palsy (CP). INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mortality; predictors of mortality. RESULTS: 98% of the cohort were traced. 61/340 (17.9%) had died by age 16-18 years at a steady mortality. The main predictive factor was severity of impairment of functional ability (hazard ratio 5.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 15.0 for poor hand manipulation; 6.8 (1.9 to 23.9).for severe communication problems). CONCLUSIONS: Although there were deaths throughout the childhood and teenage years, the majority of children with bilateral CP are likely to survive to adulthood, especially if they do not have major functional impairment at 2 years. This confirms findings of other studies of children with CP.