title: Monitoring of body position and motion in children with severe cerebral palsy for 24 hours.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate differences in position and body movements between children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) and children with typical development (TD) during the daytime and while asleep at night.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen children with severe quadriplegic CP living at home (GMFCS level V, 7 males, 8 females; mean age 8 years 3 months; range 3-20 years) and 15 children with TD (6 males, 9 females; mean age 8 years 7 months; range 1-16 years) participated. Body position and movements were recorded for 24 h by a body position monitor and a physical activity monitor, respectively. The amount of time spent in one position and the durations of inactive periods during the daytime and during night-time sleep were computed and analyzed for group differences.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In children with CP, the mean longest time spent in one position was longer than that in children with TD during night-time sleep (5.6 ± 3.5 h versus 1.6 ± 1.2 h). In contrast, no significant differences were found between the groups during the daytime (1.9 ± 1.1 h versus 1.6 ± 0.7 h). The mean longest time the body remained inactive was longer in the children with CP during both daytime and nighttime sleep (0.6 ± 0.3 h versus 0.3 ± 0.3 h for daytime, 1.4 ± 0.8 h versus 0.7 ± 0.3 h for nighttime).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Children with severe CP living at home showed prolonged immobilized posture during night-time sleep when their caregivers would be likely to also be asleep. This may suggest that these children should receive postural care assistance at night.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation, Kitasato University School of Allied Health Sciences , Sagamihara , Japan .
authors.forename: Haruhiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Misako
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Takenobu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods*; D009038:Motion; D009068:Movement; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011782:Quadriplegia / Q000534:rehabilitation; D012016:Reference Values; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Body position; cerebral palsy; children; physical activity; posture