Correlation of age and severity scores to the number of Ponseti casts in Indian infants with clubfeet

Abstract Purpose World over, age and various severity scores are among the foremost variables studied in relation to the number of casts in clubfoot. We studied the correlation between child's age at presentation, initial Pirani, Dimeglio scores to the number of Ponseti casts in Indian clubfoot children. Further, we matched Pirani versus Dimeglio scores at different severities of deformity to derive a correlation between them. Methods We included 90 idiopathic clubfeet in 55 infants and scored them according to Pirani and Dimeglio grading systems. Syndromic, neurological, surgically intervened, atypical or complex clubfeet were excluded from the study. The number of casts before percutaneous tenotomy was counted. Correlations were calculated between corrective casts and age, Pirani, Dimeglio scores and their individual components. Results Mean age of children was 63.7 days and average number of casts applied was 3.2. Age at presentation and number of casts had no correlation with r = 0.034 (p  Conclusions In infancy, the age at presentation had no bearing on number of casts. Both scoring systems had positive correlation in terms of corrective casts for our population. The Dimeglio fared slightly better than Pirani scores.