The impact of ageing on adults with cerebral palsy

Background Cerebral palsy (CP) is one of the most common neurological disorders in children and results in lifelong physical impairments. Adults with CP have approximately the same life expectancy as their non-disabled peers, so helping them to stay healthy throughout the life course will have long-term cost benefits via reductions in hospital admissions, long term care and unemployment rates.Aim This paper reports on a national online survey that explores how adults with CP experience ageing.Design & setting Online survey given to adults with CP in the UK.Method The participants were adults with CP. Items for the online survey were taken from existing self-report measures, with additional items developed for the survey. Several domains of functioning were assessed including mobility, dexterity, fatigue, pain, speech, mental health, swallowing and health maintenance/self-care as well as healthcare usage. Data were analysed using chi-square to examine the relationships between the demographic variables and the survey responses.Results The survey was completed by 395 participants, of which 72.2% were female and approximately 60% under the age of 45. Respondents reported having problems with mobility, pain and fatigue with older participants reporting higher levels of pain and more mobility problems, although the correlations were fairly small. Healthcare usage was surprisingly low.Conclusion We found that age was associated with a decline in mobility and a higher level of pain, although the relationships were weak. It is possible that the low healthcare usage among our respondents is due to services not being available to respond to their needs