 Dietary assessment of children with cerebral palys: case control study in Isparta

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate nutrient intakes and dietaryassessment of the children with cerebral palsy (CP) inour region, and to investigate the effects of variousfactors specific to this condition.Method: Forty-three children (24 males 19 females;mean age 8.1±4.2 years) with CP admitting to anoutpatient center were included in the study. Inaddition, a control group of 27 children were recruitedfrom the siblings of the children with CP. All caretakerswere interviewed and a three-day dietary record of thechildren with CP and controls were obtained.Results: Overall, 32.6% of the children werequadriplegic, 44.2% diplegic and 14.0% hemiplegic. Themean percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowancesfor energy intake was lower in the children with CPthan that in the controls (p<0.05), while no differenceswere detected between the groups according toprotein, calcium, iron and vitamin C intakes. We alsoobserved that there were differences in the amount ofdaily nutrients in the CP group according to somecharacteristic like gender and age.Conclusion: These results showed that daily nutrientintakes of the children with CP in Isparta province areinsufficient.Key words: Cerebral palsy, children, nutritional intake,dietary assessment.