Hand Function in a Population-Based Sample of Young Children with Unilateral or Bilateral Cerebral Palsy

ABSTRACTAim: To describe aspects of hand function in a population-based sample of young children with clinical signs of unilateral or bilateral cerebral palsy (CP). Method: A cross-sectional study with data from national CP registers in Norway. Manual ability was classified with the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) or Mini-MACS. Hand use in bimanual activities was measured with the Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA) for unilateral CP or the newly developed Both Hands Assessment (BoHA) for bilateral CP. Results: From 202 children, 128 (57 females) were included (Mini-MACS/MACS levels I–V, mean age 30.4 months; SD = 12.1). Manual abilities were distributed across levels I–III in unilateral CP and levels I–V in bilateral CP. Variations in AHA and BoHA units were large. One-way ANOVA revealed associations between higher AHA or BoHA units and Mini-MACS/MACS levels of higher ability (p < 0.01) and higher age (p < 0.04). Conclusions: Compared with young children with unilateral CP, children with bilatera...