title: [Incidence of cerebral palsy in Himeji over a 25-year period].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate epidemiological and clinical trends of cases of cerebral palsy between 1983 and 2007 in Himeji, Hyogo, Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review of all children diagnosed with cerebral palsy and evaluated for complications at the authors' clinic in the targeted 25-year period was conducted. Collected data were analyzed and compared across five 5-year blocks (I : 1983-1987, II : 1988-1992, III : 1993-1997, IV : 1998-2002, V : 2003-2007).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence of cerebral palsy per 1000 live births increased until block IV (I : 1.4, II : 2.0, III : 2.2, IV : 2.9) and then dropped to 2.0 in block V. The most frequent cause of cerebral palsy was periventricular leukomalacia, which was common in preterm births. The frequencies of twins and triplets were highest in block IV, contributing to the elevated incidence of cerebral palsy in this block. In terms of complication severity, mild cases increased during the study period while the percentage of severe cases remained high, thus resulting in a polarized distribution of severity in block V.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The features of cerebral palsy were observed to change during the study period, most likely as functions of the recent progress in perinatal.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koterazawa
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Miyata
mesh_terms: D001724:Birth Weight; D002547:Cerebral Palsy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D009099:Multiple Birth Offspring; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors