[Factors involved in the prognosis of walking in cerebral paralysis].

With the objective of studying the prognosis for walking in children with cerebral palsy a retrospective survey of 100 children being treated at the Associação de Assistência à Criança Defeituosa was made during the period from 1979 to 1988. The following parameters were analysed: (1) degree of motor dysfunction; (2) age of acquisition of sitting balance; (3) function of upper limbs; (4) degree of mental retardation; (5) presence of primitive reflexes. All the above parameters were analysed with respect to the capability of children acquiring or not walking. The results of our study show that the following factors are indicative of bad prognosis for walking: (1) severity of motor dysfunction; (2) acquisition of sitting posture after 3 years old; (3) precarius function of upper limbs; (4) severe mental retardation associated with severe physical deficiency. Clinical evaluation of primitive reflexes did not reveal direct relation to the walking prognosis.