Paediatr Perinat Epidemiol

BackgroundThe public health objective for cerebral palsy (CP) in the United States is to reduce the percentage of children with CP who were born low birthweight (LBW, <2500 g) by 10% between 2006 and 2020. This study reports the prevalence of CP in a constant surveillance area for the years 2006, 2008, and 2010 and describes initial progress towards the CP public health objective.MethodsData on children with CP at age 8 years were ascertained by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, a population-based surveillance system that monitored CP in four areas of the United States.ResultsCP prevalence in 2010 was 2.9 per 1000 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.6, 3.2], down from 3.5 (95% CI 3.2, 3.9) in the same surveillance area in 2006. Among CP cases with no documented postneonatal aetiology, 49.1% (95% CI 42.9, 55.2) were born LBW in 2010 compared with 54.3% (95% CI 48.4, 60.1) in 2006. In 2010, 28.1% (95% CI 22.9, 30.4) were born very low birthweight (VLBW,