Cerebral Palsy and Its Causes
Cerebral palsy (CP) is not a disease, is not contagious and cannot be transmitted from one person to another. It has no single cause, and often the cause is not known. It is a result of damage to one or more areas of the brain before, during or shortly after birth--or during infancy. Cerebral palsy is not progressive. Each case is unique, which means that some people have mild symptoms while others have severe, debilitating ones. The American Academy of Pediatrics ranks CP as the most common motor disorder in children and after autism, the second most common childhood disability.
Congenital CP
According to United Cerebral Palsy, in 90 percent of the cases, the baby is born with the condition. Most of the babies (70 percent) have a brain injury while in utero, before birth. Another 20 percent of cases are caused by a brain injury that takes place during birth.
Research by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) has shown that multiple things cause cerebral palsy: genetic abnormalities, maternal infections or fevers, or fetal injury, for example. But in all cases, the disorder is the result of one of four types of brain damage. 1) Gaps in the white matter of the brain may be caused by infections during pregnancy, such as German Measles or maternal exposure to drugs, alcohol and other toxins. 2) Abnormal development of the brain may be the result of premature birth or low birth weight. The March of Dimes reports that preterm infants are between 20 and 80 times more likely to develop cerebral palsy than babies born full term. 3) Bleeding in the brain may cause a a stroke in the womb if blood clots in the placenta have blocked blood flow. Mothers who have high blood pressure or pelvic inflammatory disease increase the risk of bleeding in the baby's brain. 4) Lack of oxygen to the brain may result from any complication during labor and delivery, including problems involving the umbilical cord. Blood-type incompatibilities between mother and baby may cause decreased oxygenation in the uterus or severe jaundice shortly after birth.
Acquired CP
My Child Without Limits, a United Cerebral Palsy early intervention social networking resource for families of young children with disabilities, reports that approximately 10 percent of affected children in the United States acquired the condition, meaning the disorder began after birth, usually as a result of brain damage in the first few years of life. CP can occur after certain infections, such as meningitis or encephalitis, lead poisoning or following a head injury, such as a motor vehicle accident, a fall or child abuse.
