1MADIHA TAJ, 2NAJIA JAMIL, 3RASHEEDA HUSAMUDDIN, 4SADIA KHURSHID, 5UROOJ HAIDER, 6QAMAR HAIDER, 7FARAH ASAD MANSURI

ABSTRACT

Objective:To describe the proportion, to explore the causes leading to handicap and to assess the abilities of handicapped children.

Material and Methods: The design of our study is cross sectional analytical.The subjects were handicapped children of Imran Rehabilitation Center, DEWA School and Shaheed-e-millat School. The Inclusion criteria was children aged 5-15 years suffering from Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation, Visual Impairment and Hearing Impairment.The Exclusion criteria included those children whose mothers declined to give us the information and those children whose mothers couldn’t make it to the handicap school. The duration of our research was 7 months from March to October 2009. Sample size was 108 children. Sampling technique was non-probability purposive sampling.Data collection procedure was Closed ended Questionnaire having some Open ended questions.

Result: We conducted a research that showed that the most prevalent condition was Cerebral Palsy in 38% (p=0.05) of the children. The major risk factor for cerebral palsy were Caesarean section in 41.46% (p=0.002) and delayed crying of the baby soon after birth in 51.06% (p=0.00) of the cases. The risk factor for visual impairment were lack of iron and folic acid supplements during pregnancy in 52.94% (p=0.00) and instrumental delivery in 50% (p=0.00) of the subjects. The risk factor for hearing impairment was drug exposure during pregnancy in 37.03% (p=0.00) of the cases.

Conclusion: Our research showed that the most prevalent handicap condition was Cerebral Palsy. The major risk factors for cerebral palsy were found to be Caesarean section and delayed crying of the baby soon after birth. The risk factors for visual impairment were identified to be lack of iron and folic acid supplements during pregnancy and instrumental delivery. The risk factors for hearing impairment were found to be drug exposure during pregnancy.

For Full text contact to:
Prof. Dr. Farah Mansuri
editor@annals-ashkmdc.org

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