CP Register

The main aims of the CP Register are to monitor and report the changing rates of cerebral palsy, gain further understanding about the causes of cerebral palsy, evaluate preventive strategies, and assist in planning services for children and adults who have cerebral palsy.

The ACPR group regularly publishes reports to update the cerebral palsy community about trends in the rate and severity of cerebral palsy. Our most recent report, the 2023 Australian CP Register Report, was published in January 2023 and launched by the Honourable Bill Shorten MP, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Government Services.

The report includes data from almost 11,000 people with cerebral palsy. Key findings of the report include:

• The rate of CP has fallen to 1.5/1,000 live births – one of the lowest rates in the world. This means that one in 700 children in Australia are born with CP, a sustained decrease of around 40% from just twenty years ago.
• While the majority of children with CP live in major cities, 30% live in regional, rural or remote Australia, highlighting the importance of equitable and culturally safe access to services.
•  Over the last 20 years, the number of children requiring assistive technology for mobility (such as walkers and wheelchairs) has fallen from 0.8/1,000 to 0.5/1,000, indicating that severity of CP is declining.
• On the five-level Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) scale used to classify functional mobility, 63% fall into groups I-II (unassisted mobility), 11% into group III (require use of mobility equipment e.g. a walker) and 26% into groups IV-V (always require use of a wheelchair for mobility).

These changes in rates and severity can be attributed to the cumulative impact of numerous advances in the health and care of pregnant women and their babies, better management of high risk pregnancies, improvements in the neonatal intensive care, and the implementation of public health initiatives to prevent accidents, all underpinned by Australian and international research.

The register is managed and funded at the Australian level by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance. Each state and territory CP Register is managed locally, in NSW and the ACT the data is managed by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Institute.