Growth, Diet, and Physical Activity in Young Children with Cerebral Palsy (#5)

It is well known that growth is a fundamental marker of health and wellbeing in children. Previous research has found that children with cerebral palsy (CP), particularly with moderate to severe gross motor limitations, are typically shorter and grow more slowly than children without CP.

In this longitudinal cohort study of 175 children diagnosed with CP between the ages of 18 months and five years, data was collected and measured to assess influencers of height in children with CP. The key findings indicated that when the growth of young children with CP is being assessed, both functional status and gestational age at birth should be taken into consideration. Similarly, the study also concluded that energy intake, physical activity and sedentary time, whilst important for a child’s development, did not explain additional variations in growth.

For the shownotes:

https://dietitianconnection.com/podcasts/podcasts-journalclub/episode-4-growth-children-cp/