Children and adolescents with cerebral palsy have reliable knowledge about their own condition - Self- and parent reported quality of life
Abstract Background: to assess health related quality of life (HRQoL) of children (8–12 years) and adolescents (13–18 years) with cerebral palsy (CP) and to compare it with age-matched healthy control children from the general population (GP). Methods: prospective cohort study. HRQoL was self-reported by KIDSCREEN questionnaires. 99 families with children with CP and 237 children from the GP and their parents were enrolled. Collected data were evaluated and compared to each other across all dimensions of KIDSCREEN: European values compared to our GP’ groups, scores of children with CP and of their parents with general population groups (both children and parents); parents’ reports with childrens’,child and adolescent reports, age, sex, special features of CP on HRQoL. Results: patients with CP and their parents rated their HRQoL as poorer than their GP counterparts did, except for the parent relation/home life and social support/peers dimensions. Reports given by children and their parents were correlated. Children and adolescents had similar scores. Assessments of children and their parents were in a medium-strong positive relationship regarding psychological well-being, moods/emotions, self-perception, autonomy, parent relation/home life dimensions (0.552