Etiological factors manifesting cerebral palsy in Pakistan: A narrative review

Abstract

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is an umbrella term for a group of neurological abnormalities that impair a person’s ability to stand, balance, walk, and maintain posture. It is caused by injury or anomalies in the developing brain, which tend to happen before or soon after birth or in early childhood. This article gathered the pooled etiological factors of CP in different cities of Pakistan. An extensive search approach was developed using three search themes: Cerebral Palsy, Etiology, and Pakistan(i). The published literature from different databases (CINAHL, Cochrane Database, Google Scholar, NCBI-PubMed, and Scopus/Elsevier electronic) was searched with no publication date limitation. All titles and abstracts were reviewed, as well as full texts of relevant articles were gathered from cross-sectional, cohort, descriptive case studies, pilot, prospective, and retrospective studies of CP patients in Pakistan. Birth Asphyxia is depicted as a major etiological factor for the manifestation of CP reported in various cities of Pakistan. The etiology implicated in CP is discussed in detail along with the directions for future research.