Does Birth Trauma Increase Cerebral Palsy Cases?
Cerebral palsy, or CP, is a group of disorders that affect a person’s ability to move and keep their balance. It often starts in early childhood and lasts a lifetime. Many parents wonder if problems during birth, known as birth trauma, play a big role in causing CP. Birth trauma can include things like lack of oxygen to the baby, called perinatal asphyxia, or other issues around delivery time.
Research shows that birth trauma is linked to some cases of CP, but it is not the main cause for most children with the condition. One study looked at over 1,400 kids with CP and found that preterm birth and perinatal problems raised the risk of certain brain injuries seen on MRI scans. These injuries, like white matter damage, were common in 46.5 percent of cases and tied to better motor outcomes in spastic CP. However, even kids with normal MRI scans had serious issues, showing that imaging alone does not tell the full story.
Perinatal asphyxia, a type of birth trauma from oxygen shortage, can lead to brain damage that causes CP. A study of 212 kids with this history found that certain gene changes in the MMP2 promoter made CP more likely. Kids with an ATG haplotype were at higher risk, especially if MRI showed brain damage. This suggests that birth trauma activates inflammation in the brain, and some genes make kids more vulnerable.
That said, experts now say genetic factors cause most CP cases where a reason is known. Perinatal issues like birth asphyxia or infections are minor causes. One review notes that de novo mutations, or new genetic changes, are far more common than birth trauma.
Preventing problems at birth still helps lower CP risk. In Denmark, starting labor inductions at 37 weeks cut asphyxia by 23 percent and CP cases by 26 percent over several years. Neonatal deaths dropped too, from 1.9 to 1.0 per 1,000 births. This shows that avoiding prolonged pregnancies reduces birth trauma and related issues like CP.
Hip problems in CP kids often develop later due to muscle stiffness, not directly from birth trauma. Still, early care matters for overall health.
Sources
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12754938/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12731818/
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07059702
https://www.contemporaryobgyn.net/view/earlier-inductions-lead-better-outcomes
https://www.cureus.com/articles/344048-radiological-assessment-of-inter–and-intra-observer-reliability-in-hip-migration-measurements-in-children-with-cerebral-palsy-at-a-tertiary-referral-center
