Association of Low Birth weight and Cerebral palsy

Introduction: Damage to the motor control centres of the developing brain causes cerebral palsy (CP), which can occur during pregnancy, childbirth, or after delivery. Objective: To study the associated risk factor low birth weight for spastic CP in a retrospective study involving children with CP. Materials and methods: The study population included 187 children with CP. Data was collected from the medical records and from the parents of affected 187 Cerebral palsy children attended / admitted during the period from 2014 to 2020 in Rani Chandramani Devi Government hospital and Rehabilitation centre, PedaWaltair, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh and analysed retrospectively. The analysis of data from the case records included the following: new born gestational age, mother’s age, gender, birth weight, maternal health factors, CP child order in the family. Results: Cerebral palsy was seen more in males 122 (65.24%) than females. Taking 2500 grams is the average weight of a normal baby in our Indian set up, 187 Cerebral palsy children are below 2500 g. Out of 187 babies, 115 are of Low Birth Weight (LBW) with weight ranging from 2500 g to 1501 g,55 very low birth weight (VLBW) weight ranging from 1500 g to 1001 g, and 17 were extremely low birth weight (ELBW) weight ranging below 1000 g. Among the total 187 low birth weight babies, 62 are Pre term and 125 are full term born. The maternal co-morbid factors anaemia 68 (36.36%) plays a major role in the present study. Gestational age is one of the major factor responsible for CP in children of low birth weight. More CP cases were seen in pre-term gestational age 28 weeks 23 (12.29%). Conclusion: Using recent advances in diagnostic modalities for detecting any deviations in the growing foetus and mother's health, appropriate and early interventions for problems that are treatable should prevent low birth weight and its serious consequences in the immediate or future neurodevelopmental status of the born child