Can Premature Birth Increase Cerebral Palsy Risk?
Babies born too early face a higher chance of developing cerebral palsy, a condition that affects muscle control and movement because of brain damage or abnormal development. While cerebral palsy happens in about 0.3 percent of all births, it is up to 70 times more common in extremely preterm infants, those born before 27 weeks of pregnancyhttps://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/.
Premature babies, especially those with very low birth weight under 3.3 pounds, are at greater risk because their brains are still developing outside the womb. This can lead to problems like bleeding in the brain’s ventricles, called intraventricular hemorrhage, or periventricular leukomalacia, where small areas of brain tissue die around those ventricleshttps://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/cerebral-palsy. Other issues, such as late-onset sepsis, a blood infection after birth, or severe lung disease needing a ventilator, also raise the oddshttps://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/.
A large study of nearly 7,000 extremely preterm children in the U.S. found that 19 percent were diagnosed with cerebral palsy, with rates rising 11 percent each year from 2008 to 2019https://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/. This increase ties to better medical care helping more high-risk babies survive, plus improved ways to spot the condition earlyhttps://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/. Preterm birth affects about 10 percent of infants worldwide and often leads to brain injuries that cause cerebral palsyhttps://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2842660.
The brain’s immaturity in preterm babies makes it vulnerable to oxygen shortages, infections, or bleeding, which harm areas controlling movement and posturehttps://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12756924/. Doctors usually diagnose cerebral palsy between 6 and 12 months, when babies miss milestones like sitting or walkinghttps://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/cerebral-palsy. New tools, like a swimming cap that combines light and ultrasound to check brain activity, aim to catch risks sooner in at-risk newbornshttps://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/blog/new-swimming-cap-early-diagnosis-of-cerebral-palsy-in-infants/.
Early care for preterm babies can help lower these risks through better monitoring and therapies that support brain growth during the plastic early monthshttps://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/blog/new-swimming-cap-early-diagnosis-of-cerebral-palsy-in-infants/.
Sources
https://childrenscerebralpalsy.com/research-update-increased-prevalence-of-cerebral-palsy-in-extremely-preterm-infants/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12756924/
https://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/blog/new-swimming-cap-early-diagnosis-of-cerebral-palsy-in-infants/
https://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/cerebral-palsy
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2842660
