ABSTRACT
Accepted teaching for the majority of this century indicated that the cause of the cerebral palsy was birth asphyxia. However, obstetric practice has steadily improved, but there has not been a concomitant reduction in the incidence of cerebral palsy in term infants. In addition, retrospective analysis of the perinatal events in children with cerebral palsy has demonstrated that very few, possibly only 10-20%, suffered perinatal compromise that may have been a contributory factor to the subsequent cerebral palsy. It has thus become increasingly clear that birth asphyxia is the cause of relatively few cases of cerebral palsy, and antenatal factors or events probably cause the majority of cases.
