Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome – Similarities and Differences

Fact Checked

Cerebral palsy and Down syndrome are both disorders that affect children for life, and a child may be born with both. Children with either condition face challenges, including physical disabilities, mental and emotional health issues, and inclusion and social isolation problems. Early interventions and good lifelong care improve the quality of life for children with either or both conditions.

What Is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral palsy is a neurological condition, meaning it involves the nervous system, and it begins with the brain. It manifests primarily as a disorder of movement and muscle tone. Depending on the individual, it can have far-reaching complications and symptoms ranging from mild to severe and debilitating.

Brain damage or a disruption in normal brain development occurring in the womb during labor and delivery or shortly after birth causes cerebral palsy.

The cause of the brain damage is not always known. Still, it may be genetic or due to difficulties during the delivery, lack of oxygen to the brain, maternal infection, a stroke in utero, or many other factors.

This is a life-long disorder without a cure, but the effects are wide-ranging. The symptoms may be so mild that they are barely detectable in some but completely debilitating in others.

Characteristic symptoms include either too much or too little muscle tone, rigid muscles, spastic muscles, poor muscle coordination, slow and writhing movements, delayed motor development, difficulty walking, difficulty swallowing, drooling, difficulty speaking, and seizures.

What Is Down Syndrome?

Down syndrome is a congenital chromosomal disability. Chromosomes are packages of genes in the cells of the body. Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes for a total of 46.

Down syndrome occurs when a child develops in the womb with an extra copy of chromosome 21, for a total of three of this particular chromosome. That is why the condition is also known as Trisomy 21.

The extra chromosome causes developmental delays and all of the characteristics seen in children and adults with Down syndrome. There are some distinctive physical features of Down syndrome, including flattened facial features, small ears, small hands and feet, a short neck, and short stature.

Each person with Down syndrome is unique and has different abilities and limitations, but these are some of the more common effects:

• Low muscle tone and loose joints
• Hearing loss
• Congenital heart defects
• Eye diseases
• Sleep apnea
• Lower than average IQ
• Recurrent ear infections

Approximately one in 700 babies in the U.S. is born with Down syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[1] While the cause of acquiring an extra chromosome is unknown, a significant risk factor is the mother’s age. The older the mother is, the greater the risk that she will have a baby born with Down syndrome.

Because of many potential health complications, the life expectancy of someone with Down syndrome used to be low. With advances in treatment, it is close to average life expectancy.

How These Conditions Are Similar

Both Down syndrome and cerebral palsy are conditions that occur in the womb or near birth. Neither one can be cured, but both can be managed with physical, educational, social, and psychological interventions. Treatments manage symptoms of either condition, such as seizure medications for a person with cerebral palsy or surgery for heart defects in a child with Down syndrome.

Children with one of these conditions are likely to face some degree of physical disability, typically muscle tone issues.[2]

Further, a child with cerebral palsy could have difficulty with balance and occasional spastic movements. Some children with CP are entirely unable to walk.

Children with Down syndrome are generally less physically disabled than those with moderate to severe cerebral palsy, but they still face physical challenges. Most have lower muscle tone than is typical. Both conditions usually cause delays in physical development.

How They Differ

There are some similarities between Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, but there are quite a few differences. The first is that they have completely different causes: one is a chromosomal abnormality, while the other has multiple possible causes that lead to brain damage.

Another difference is that there is more variety in the symptoms and complications from one individual to another with cerebral palsy.

Symptoms vary quite a bit for those with cerebral palsy, but so do the complications. There is a long list of potential complications that a child with cerebral palsy may experience, including gastrointestinal illness, hearing impairment, asthma, periodontal disease, limb deformities, lung diseases, malnutrition, and many more. Down syndrome may cause complications, too, but the list is shorter.

Intellectual disability is also a significant difference. While some children born with cerebral palsy will have a lower IQ, for most, the condition does not affect IQ or intellectual ability at all. With Down syndrome, on the other hand, all affected individuals have some degree of intellectual disability and a lower IQ than the average for their age.

Also important is how these conditions are diagnosed. Down syndrome can be diagnosed definitively by evaluating the baby’s chromosomes. Doctors can even screen for it during pregnancy.

Cerebral palsy is much more complicated to diagnose, and even experts don’t always agree on the criteria. Sometimes cerebral palsy is considered a group of disorders rather than one condition because there is so much variety in how it is expressed.

While cerebral palsy and Down syndrome has some things in common, the children living with these conditions face many different challenges. They all need support from professionals as well as loved ones, therapies, and interventions that help them manage symptoms, treat complications, and live lives that are fulfilling and satisfying.