Preventive Care for Adults With Cerebral Palsy and Other Neurodevelopmental Disabilities: Are We Missing the Point?
Whitney DG, Rabideau ML, McKee M, Hurvitz EA. Front Integr Neurosci. 2022 Apr 7;16:866765. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2022.866765. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35464602
Study type/Population: A Perspective paper highlighting the potential need for differential interpretation of values derived from clinical measures for adults with cerebral palsy (CP) 18 years and older.
Key findings: This Perspective identifies research related to accelerated health declines in persons aging with CP by highlighting findings related to obesity risk, bone health, and kidney health and how results differ from non-CP groups. Given the anatomical and physiological complexities of aging with CP, future research needs to identify how to better use current methods and develop new methods to assess health constructs in individuals aging with CP.
Translation to practice: Preventative care through regular health checks is recommended but may not be as impactful in their current form for adults with CP as they are for the general population. Care must be taken in interpreting clinical test results in persons aging with CP, and there may be a need for either new screening measures or possibly different “normal value” thresholds in existing measures, or both, to accurately capture health constructs in individual aging with CP