Antenatal and intrapartum antecedents of cerebral palsy: a case-control study.

Aim: To identify antenatal and intrapartum factors contributing to the aetiology of cerebral palsy (CP).

Methods: A case-control study using moderate/severe cases of cerebral palsy identified from the Victorian Cerebral Palsy Register and two controls per case identified through the Victorian Perinatal Data Collection Unit.

Results: A number of previously identified risk factors for CP were confirmed in our data. New observations were (in specific sub-groups): protective effects of mother's negative Rhesus status, cigarette smoking at the first visit and episiotomy and an increased risk of CP associated with an abnormal antenatal cardiotocograph.

Conclusions: Although the result of the deliberate investigation of specific aspects of the antenatal and intrapartum period identified from a pilot study, our new findings must be interpreted with caution as they were not all based on specific a priori hypotheses, although some had been examined by other investigators. We would encourage their evaluation in other data sets.