According
to the results of the population and epidemiological studies carried out in
different countries beginning from the early forties of the twentieth
century, there are from 0.8 to 5.9 cases of ICP per 1000 newborns.
Such a great discrepancy in the estimations is due to differences in the
used techniques and the absence of consensus with respect to the inclusion
of mild neurological disorders into the group of cerebral paralyses.
At
the same time many specialists estimate the incidence of ICP cases in the
developed countries in the range of from 2 to 3 per 1000 births.
It
is noticeable that this parameter has been sufficiently stable for decades
in many countries. Moreover, many are disposed to think that the disease
began to occur more frequently in the countries with a high level of
medicine. In their opinion this can be explained by a decrease in death
rate among premature babies and newborns with a low body weight who have a
fairly significant risk of development of ICP in which the latest
advances in the field of obstetrics are powerless since the disease occurs
most often in the prenatal period.
