Outcomes for people with cerebral palsy: life expectancy and quality of life

Cerebral palsy has tended to be regarded as a paediatric condition, whereas it clearly is a life long one. The over-emphasis on childhood has meant that the implications of therapeutic, environmental and family support have not been provided or evaluated in terms of their implications for adult life; nor has study of the natural history of cerebral palsy in adulthood received the attention it deserves; and nor have the outcomes of social participation and subjective wellbeing been properly considered in adulthood. In this review, outcomes in adulthood of life expectancy, subjective wellbeing, participation, mental health, physical health including pain, and impact on family are presented. On all these domains, adults with cerebral palsy have poorer outcomes than in the general population. It is argued that this may be due in part to misplaced interventions in childhood.