Quality of life in children and adolescents with cerebral palsy: a systematic review with meta-analysis.

Physical quality of life is, invariably, more affected in those with cerebral palsy. The connection between cerebral palsy and psychosocial quality of life is less clear. Noted parent-child discrepancies highlight the value of a multi-informant approach to child quality of life assessment. Implications for rehabilitation Quality of life is an important health-related outcome in cerebral palsy research and practice. Collecting both self-report and proxy data can help to highlight quality of life issues that are salient to the parent and to the child or adolescent with cerebral palsy. Selection of the appropriate quality of life instrument depends on the assessment purpose, with available measures varying in their focus on functionality, subjectivity and illness-specific items. Quality of life assessment of children with cerebral palsy should extend beyond functional abilities to include less obvious, but critical, psychological and social issues.