An observational study in Cerebral Palsy, Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Cerebral Palsy Children, sponsored by University College Cork. Recruiting at 4 sites in Ireland. Open to participants aged 0 Days to 4 Months, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-13.
Sponsored by University College Cork · Observational
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition when a baby has a brain injury that affects their movement and muscle tone. Some people with CP can have other developmental issues, like learning impairments, but many do not and have isolated issues with their motor skills. Some newborns are at higher risk of developing CP, including babies born prematurely, those who have an injury to their brain, and those who have an abnormal neurological examination. However, most babies with a higher risk of CP do not develop CP. The problem is that doctors can't tell early on who will and who will not develop CP, they can only say who has a risk of it. Therefore, these babies are followed up in out-patient clinics to see how they are progressing, usually by a neonatologist (baby doctor), often a physiotherapist, and some may also be referred to services in the community like the Early Intervention Team. If there is a significant concern, doctors will often perform a scan of the baby's brain to provide more information. Even with all this follow-up, it still usually takes at least 12 months, and can be up to 2 years, to diagnose a child as having CP.
In this study the aim is to try and reduce the age of diagnosis of CP by assessing children in high-risk out-patient clinics using novel and specific examinations. We would also like to improve our ability to predict who will need help with learning, language or other non-motor outcomes. This study is being conducted at several hospitals in Ireland, including Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH), The Rotunda Hospital and the Coombe Women and Infants Hospital. It is being coordinated by the In4kids network and will be conducted in the INFANT Centre/ University College Cork (UCC). The study has been funded by Research Ireland and the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, USA.
1,936 studies on the registry are indexed under Cerebral Palsy; 458 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 600 is above the median of 63 across 472 observational studies indexed under Cerebral Palsy.
Browse Cerebral Palsy studies →University College Cork is the lead sponsor of 119 studies on the registry; 25 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
All infants considered high risk for a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and neuro-developmental impairment will be eligible, specifically:
All preterm infants born ≤32 weeks Post Menstrual Age or ≤1500 gm birth weight
All encephalopathic infants
Neurological risk factors (e.g., injury/malformation on neuroimaging, persistently abnormal neurological exam)
All full-term infants (>37 weeks gestation), without requirement for admission to the NICU will be eligible to be enrolled in the study as the control arm of the study
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
All infants considered high risk for a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and neuro-developmental impairment will be eligible, specifically including:
(Control Group)
-A control arm will also be recruited.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
This group will have risk factors such as prematurity or hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy which put them in the High-Risk cohort
This group will be healthy, term infants who do not require admission to neonatal intensive care
A
To characterise the development of neural architecture and function during sleep using EEG, from the near-term period to 4 months corrected gestational age for infants at elevated risk of cerebral palsy and diagnosed with cerebral palsy
Time frame: From near term to 4 months corrected gestational age
B
To examine underlying neuro-specific protein profiles near term corrected gestational age as early biomarkers of altered neural function, motor and developmental outcomes in infants at elevated risk of cerebral palsy and diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
Time frame: Birth to 6 weeks
C
Develop novel measures of cognitive outcome, including executive function, and use these to compare trajectories in infants with cerebral palsy and those without, from 4 to 24 months
Time frame: 4 to 24 months
A
To optimise existing predictive machine learning algorithms
Time frame: During the study period, ie. over five years
B
To develop and establish a standardised, early fixation classification assessment tool that can be used for infants at risk of cerebral palsy in high-risk follow-up clinics across Ireland
Time frame: 4 months
C
To investigate ophthalmological biomarkers, including morphology, as potential early predictors of cerebral palsy and cognitive outcomes
Time frame: 18 months
Plan to share: No — Individual Patient Data may not be shared according to ethical approval
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