Abstract:

Background: growth retardation and nutritional deficiencies is common in children with cerebral palsy and can influence their motor function. Objectives: This is a cross-sectional study aiming at evaluation of growth and minerals status in children with CP ,  finding association between macro and micro minerals deficiencies and some factors like age, sex, type and severity of CP and severity of malnutrition in these children. Patients and methods: One hundred patients with CP underwent anthropometric measurements and Malnutrition was assessed according to Gomes, Waterlow, Cole, and WHO classifications.Ten patients were excluded from study due to hemolysis of blood samples. Serum analysis for mineral’s concentration was done. Also motor functions were evaluated in these children according to GMFCS (gross motor function classification system)  and MACS ( manual ability classification system) classifications and statistical analysis of patient’s data was done using Chi-square and ANOVA tests. Results: Of these 90 participants 30% had severe wasting and 38.9% had severe stunting. What is new in our study is  we found zinc deficiency is common among these children in comparison to previous studies. Also We found an  association between serum P level and age variant (p=0.03) and between  high grades of GMFCS and Zn deficiency (p=0.04). Also correlations were significant between severe malnutrition and spastic quadriplegic type and between stunting and wasting with spastic quadriplegic CP. Conclusion: Malnutrition and growth retardation is common in children with CP. As  improvement in nutritional status has an impact on motor function and  life quality in children with CP, more attention is recommended to be paid on their nutritional status and feeding problems.

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