A study to be published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that babies who are delivered late or delivered early may be at a higher risk of cerebral palsy.  According to the study, babies delivered as early as 37 to 38 weeks, or as late as 42 weeks, may be at a higher risk compared to babies delivered at 40 weeks.

Researchers looked at how timing of delivery affected the risk of cerebral palsy.  They considered more than 1.68 million babies delivered between gestational ages of 37 and 44 weeks, and suffering no birth defects.  Researchers found that the risk of developing cerebral palsy was higher in babies born between 37 and 38 weeks, and at 42 weeks or later, compared to babies delivered at 40 weeks.  Since cerebral palsy can’t be diagnosed at birth, the doctors followed the babies through the next few years to monitor them.  According to the researchers, the risks seem to increase by about 44% for babies born after 40 weeks.

The margin of risk is low, and the vast majority of babies who were born a few weeks before or after 40 weeks will not develop cerebral palsy.  Researchers are now recommending that these study findings not be used as a factor when determining intervention time for delivery. 

Doctors unrelated to the study confirm that there is always a higher risk of not just cerebral palsy, but other complications too, when babies are delivered at 37 or 38 weeks, or after 42 weeks.  The risks of these complications are the reason why pre-term deliveries are not encouraged.  But if there is a medical necessity for a preterm delivery, then Arizona medical malpractice lawyers don’t believe this study's findings should be the reason why doctors postpone the delivery.

A study being conducted at the University of Nebraska Medical Center Munro-Meyer Institute is helping children with cerebral palsy improve their sitting skills.  The study is being funded by a $600,000 grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. It is focused on comparing two treatments, and their effect on improving sitting abilities in children with moderate to severe cerebral palsy.

The study includes a control group that receives physical therapy twice a week.  These children are compared to an experimental group which also receives the same therapy.  However, the children in the experimental group children are made to sit on mats that vibrate randomly at varying frequencies.  According to the researchers, the theory is that when the body vibrates, it increases the child's ability to sense where the body is in space.  This promotes sitting abilities. 

Early results from the study indicate a slight difference between the two groups.  Children in the experimental group with the vibrating mats seem to have improved sitting abilities compared to the other group.  Over the next couple of years, the study will determine whether there is a meaningful and strong difference between both groups.  If there is a definite improvement in the ability of children with cerebral palsy to learn how to sit with the help of these mats, doctors and therapists could recommend that children use these mats.

Arizona cerebral palsy lawyers with a strong interest in cerebral palsy know that for these children, even the most basic sitting activities can mean a lifetime of challenge.  Children with cerebral palsy have minimal posture control and spastic limbs which makes even the simple activity of sitting a significant challenge.  Hopefully, the study will show some improvements as a result of using the mats, so parents can have a device that helps them with their kids.