Cerebral palsy and additional handicaps in a 1-year birth cohort from northern Finland--a prospective follow-up study to the age of 14 years.

In a 1-year birth cohort from the two northernmost provinces in Finland, Oulu and Lapland which comprised of 12 058 liveborn infants, the total number of children affected with cerebral palsy (CP) was 69. The cumulative incidence up to the age of 14 years was 5.7 per thousand. A prenatal aetiology was present in 32%, a perinatal aetiology in 36% and a postnatal aetiology in 19% whereas in 13.0% of the cases the cause remained untraceable. A total of 50 children (73%), had 1 or more additional handicaps. Mental retardation (IQ less than 85) was present in 70%, epilepsy in 48%, a visual defect in 19% and impaired hearing in 7%. The impact of the total handicaps is also illustrated by the fact that only 33% of the children were able to attend a normal school. The incidence of 5.7 per thousand recorded here is clearly higher than in studies from several other countries, as the cumulative incidence is usually reported to vary between 2 and 3 per thousand.