Aetiology of cerebral palsy in African children
Animashaun, A.
African Journal of Medical Sciences 2(2): 165-171
1971
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-0028 PMID: 4255776 Document Number: 4964
At the Paediatric Neurology Clinic of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, 361 children were seen and followed up between 1966 and 1969. Of these, 196 (54.5%) had cerebral palsy. The aetiological factors in these cases were neonatal jaundice with kernicterus (ninety-seven cases), post-natal infections, meningitis and encephalitis (twenty-five cases), hydrocephalus and microcephalus (twenty cases). The aetiology was unknown in fifteen cases. The rest were due to perinatal conditions associated with abnormal and unorthodox obstetrics. In well over 70% of the cases with jaundice and kernicterus, the aetiology of the jaundice was not known. Forty-two of the jaundiced cases had exchange blood transfusions on criteria which have proved admirable for erythroblastosis foetalis. The point is made that apart from preventive measures against neonatal jaundice, there is an urgent need for research not only into the causes of jaundice in Nigeria, but also into new criteria for exchange blood transfusion in cases of neonatal jaundice not due to blood group incompatibility.
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