Citation

Ryan JM, Cameron MH, Liverani S, Smith KJ, O'connell N, Peterson MD, Anokye N, Victor CR, Boland F. Dev. Med. Child Neurol. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Data Science Centre, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Mac Keith Press, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/dmcn.14444

PMID

31879951

Abstract

AIM: To compare the rate of falls between adults with and without cerebral palsy (CP).

METHOD: We used primary care data on 1705 adults with CP and 5115 adults without CP matched for age, sex, and general practice attended. We compared odds of experiencing a fall between adults with and without CP using conditional logistic regression. We compared the rate of falls using a negative binomial model.

RESULTS: Participants were 3628 males (53%) and 3192 females (47%) (median age 29y, interquartile range 20-42y) at the start of follow-up. Follow-up was 14 617 person-years for adults with CP and 56 816 person-years for adults without CP. Of adults with CP, 15.3% experienced at least one fall compared to 5.7% of adults without CP. Adults with CP had 3.64 times (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.98-4.45) the odds of experiencing a fall compared to adults without CP. The rate of falls was 30.5 per 1000 person-years and 6.7 per 1000 person-years for adults with and without CP respectively (rate ratio 5.83, 95% CI 4.84-7.02) INTERPRETATION: Adults with CP are more likely to fall, and fall more often, than adults without CP. The causes and consequences of falls in adults with CP need examination.

© 2019 The Authors. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Mac Keith Press.

Language: en