Abstract
Background There is an abundance of research investigating physical health outcomes in people with cerebral palsy, however evidence from studies investigating psychiatric disorders in this group is less well developed. Specifically, there is little research synthesising the prevalence rates of psychiatric disorders in people with cerebral palsy, and there is no summary of the instruments used to measure this. This systematic review will summarise the current body of evidence investigating psychiatric disorders in people with cerebral palsy, as well as the measurement or diagnostic instruments used to measure psychiatric disorder.
Findings To be included in the review, articles must report on psychiatric disorders in people with cerebral palsy or use standardised tools that allow for clinical thresholds to be derived, written in English, and published after 1980. A comprehensive, electronic database search strategy will be implemented targeting relevant papers indexed in MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and PubMed. Searches will include terms that relate to psychiatric disorders (E.g., mood disorders, anxiety disorders, ADHD, autism) in people with cerebral palsy. Data will be extracted based on age, psychiatric disorder, and cerebral palsy severity. We will summarise the findings as a narrative and will provide overall prevalence estimates for psychiatric disorders.
Discussion The systematic review will provide novel insights into the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with cerebral palsy. It will also provide recommendations about the types of instruments that have been used and implemented in health research related to cerebral palsy. It will guide future work on interventions and primary research in clinical sciences and allied health disciplines.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Funding Statement
NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence Scheme
Author Declarations
I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.
Yes
The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:
Ethics approval has not been obtained as this is a systematic review protocol.
All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived.
Yes
I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).
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Yes
Data Availability
There is no data available for this systematic review protocol.