Risk factors must be distinguished from causes, known risk factors are including low birthrate and prematurity. Infants with a birth rate of less than 2500 g are 20 – 80 times more likely to have CP. The rates of CP have remained fairly stable over the past 40 years(Reddihough, 2011). The current rate is 2.0 – 2.5 per 1000 live births (Reddihough, 2011). Cerebral palsy is known as a developmental disability, there are more people with cerebral palsy than any other developmental disability including down syndrome, epilepsy, and autism. Studies show at least 5000 infants and others in 1,200 – 1,500 preschoolers are diagnosed with cerebral palsy each year. Approximately 500,000 individuals have cerebral palsy to some degree in the US (http://www.about-cerebral-palsy.org/definition/statistics.html). In 2002, the number of cerebral palsy cases in 8 year old children was found to be one in 278. (http://www.mychildwithoutlimits.org/?page=cerebral-palsy-statistics)
