Affiliations: Department of Pediatrics, King Hussein Medical Center,
Amman, Jordan | Princess Rahmah Teaching Hospital, Irbid, Jordan | King Abdullah University Hospital, Irbid, Jordan
Note: [] Correspondence: Azhar Daoud, M.D., Professor of Child Neurology,
King Abdullah University Hospital, Jordan University of Science and Technology,
P.O. Box 2227, Irbid 21110, Jordan. Tel.: mobile +962 79 5600420, Work +962
27200600 Ext. 40665, home +962 65515598; E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: This study was conducted to evaluate the clinical profile and
predisposing factors of cerebral palsy (CP) in Jordanian children. Two hundred
Jordanian children born between 1990 and 2005 with CP were reviewed in three
teaching hospitals to study prospectively and retrospectively their clinical
profile, possible etiological factors, and associated problems. A data
collection sheet was developed to collect information from the children's
parents, or occasionally from the chart regarding the demographic
characteristics, detailed history, findings of the physical, developmental and
neurological examination. Spastic CP was the predominant type (64.5%) with a
quadriplegic CP being the most common (36%). Dyskinetic CP was present in
10.5%, while ataxic in 18%. In congenital CP, birth asphyxia constituted
a significant possible cause (33.5%). Epilepsy is one of the most common
associated problems among CP children constituting 56%. The results of our
magnetic resonance imaging findings showed that only 15.5% of the children
were normal. This was the first study which detailed the clinical spectrum of
CP in Jordan. We concluded that the clinical spectrum of CP in our developing
countries may differ from that of the developed countries.
Keywords: Cerebral palsy, clinical spectrum, Jordan
