Quality of life of children with cerebral palsy treated with botulinum toxin: are well-being measures appropriate?

AIM: To analyze quality of life (QOL) of children with cerebral palsy (CP) treated with botulinum toxin type A (BTXA). METHOD: Two QOL evaluation tools, translated into Portuguese, were used: Pediatric Outcomes Data Collection Instrument (PODCI) and Child's Caregiver Questionnaire (CCQ). Questionnaires were answered by caregivers on two occasions. Patients were divided into 3 groups: I - patients who had been previously treated with BTXA and who underwent a session of BTXA; II - patients who used BTXA for the first time; III - patients previously treated with BTXA but did not in this interval. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients were evaluated. In group I (n=26) the functional ability had improvement for all types of CP (p=0.04), and tetraplegic increased interaction/communication (p=0.02). In group II (n=14) positioning improved (p=0.02). Group III (n=28) showed no change in QOL. CONCLUSIONS: PODCI and CCQ are able to capture outcome in children with CP.