Body composition in children with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the pattern of body composition and nutritional status in a group of prepubertal children with spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy (SQCP) compared with healthy control children.

STUDY

DESIGN

Subjects were enrolled for this cross-sectional study from two tertiary care settings. One hundred thirty-six subjects with SQCP, 2 to 12 years of age, were evaluated by anthropometric measures, or by anthropometric and total body water (TBW) measures (n = 28), with 39 control subjects.

RESULTS

Body composition and nutritional status indicators were significantly reduced in children with SQCP. Accretion of fat-free mass with age was smaller for children with SQCP. Calculation of body fat from two skin folds correlated best with measures of fat mass from TBW.

CONCLUSION

Malnutrition is common in children with SQCP. Clinically available, serial anthropometric measures enable the clinician to identify malnourished children with SQCP.