Does the risk of cerebral palsy increase or decrease with increasing gestational age.docVIP

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth BioMedCentral Research article Open Access Does the risk of cerebral palsy increase or decrease with increasing gestational age? K S Joseph*1, Alexander C Allen1,2, Samawal Lutfi2, Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck3, Michael J Vincer2 and Ellen Wood4 Address: 1Perinatal Epidemiology Research Unit, Departments of Obstetrics Gynecology and of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 3Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics Gynecology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and 4Division of Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Email: K S Joseph* - kjoseph@dal.ca; Alexander C Allen - ac.allen@np.iwkgrace.ns.ca; Samawal Lutfi - samawal.lutfi@np.iwkgrace.ns.ca; Lynn Murphy-Kaulbeck - lmurphyk@dal.ca; Michael J Vincer - mike.vincer@np.iwkgrace.ns.ca; Ellen Wood - ewood@dal.ca * Corresponding author Published: 23 December 2003 Received: 10 July 2003 Accepted: 23 December 2003 BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth 2003, 3:8 This article is available from: /1471-2393/3/8 ? 2003 Joseph et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the articles original URL. Abstract Background: It is generally accepted that the risk of cerebral palsy decreases with increasing gestational age of live born infants. However, recent studies have shown that cerebral palsy often has prenatal antecedents including congenital malformations, vascular insults and maternal infection. Cerebral palsy is therefore better viewed as occurring among fetuses, rather than among infants. We explored the epidemiologic implications of this change in perspective. Methods: We used