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Growth and nutritional status in residential center versus home-living children and adolescents with quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

Henderson RC, Grossberg RI, Matuszewski J, Menon N, Johnson J, Kecskemethy HH, Vogel L, Ravas R, Wyatt M, Bachrach SJ, Stevenson RD

Department of Orthopaedics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA. rchh@med.unc.edu

OBJECTIVE: To describe growth and nutrition in nonambulatory youth (<19 years of age) with cerebral palsy (CP) living in residential centers compared with similar youth living at home. STUDY DESIGN: A multicenter, cross-sectional, single observational assessment of 75 subjects living in a residential care facility compared with 205 subjects living at home. Primary outcome measures included anthropometric measures of height, weight, triceps, and subscapular skinfolds, and mid-upper-arm muscle area. Z scores were calculated from reference values for healthy children. Age, use of a feeding tube, and Gross Motor Functional Classification System (GMFCS) level were included as important confounders. RESULTS: Use of a feeding tube was associated with higher skinfold Z scores, and a significantly higher percentage of the residential subjects had a feeding tube. Height, weight, and arm-muscle area Z scores all diverged (negatively) from reference values with age, and the residential subjects were on average older than the home-living subjects. After controlling for age, GMFCS level and use of a feeding tube, residential living was associated with significantly greater weight, height, skinfold thicknesses, and mid-arm muscle area Z scores. CONCLUSION: Poor growth and nutrition in children with CP is a prevalent, important, and complex problem. Although factors intrinsic to the condition of CP likely play a significant role, it is also clear that environmental factors, including the living situation of the child, can have an impact.

Published 23 July 2007 in J Pediatr, 151(2): 161-6.
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