Effectiveness of a Perinatal High-Risk Follow-Up Program in the Early Identification of Cerebral Palsy

Abstract

Newfoundland is the most easterly of Canada’s Atlantic provinces, with a population of 500,000 scattered over an island 500 mi across, and even more sparsely over the large mainland section of Labrador. The area was settled 400 years ago predominantly by English and Irish emigrants who joined the native Inuit and Indian populations. The province’s birth rate and family size formerly was the highest in Canada, and remains high (average family size is still 3.8 persons). Family ties are strong in New-foundland, and the divorce rate is low. The perinatal mortality rate, previously considerably higher than the Canadian average, has declined to 11.5 per 1,000 births, as compared with 10.9 for Canada as a whole (Statistics Canada, 1983).