Cerebral palsy was long considered a children’s condition. People aging with it face a dearth of research and health insurance that can’t comprehend their disability.
Researchers at Michigan Medicine found a subset of middle-aged men with cerebral palsy are up to 5.6 times more likely to suffer fractures than men without the disorder.
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Researchers at Michigan Medicine found a subset of middle-aged men with cerebral palsy are up to 5.6 times more likely to suffer fractures than men without the disorder. We are not really sure why this happens, said Edward A. Hurvitz, M.D., professor and chair of the Michigan Medicine Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation. It may be related to structural differences that occur during adolescent growth, or to greater bone mineral loss at earlier age for people with cerebral palsy compared to peers.
For a study published in
BONE, the team examined the timing and site of bone fractures for around 10 million people with and without cerebral palsy using public and private insurance claims from 2016. They found people with the disability have fragile bones that present high fracture risk, but at different times across the lifespan compared to the general population.