Associação entre desempenho funcional de crianças com paralisia cerebral e tempo de espera pela provisão de órteses em serviço de reabilitação Association between functional performance of children with cerebral palsy and waiting time for the splint provision in rehabilitation services

Children with cerebral palsy usually need orthoses in their thumbs for manual functions. Objective: Analyzing the association between the waiting time for receiving a thumb orthosis, the manual ability, and the difficulty in performing daily tasks of children with cerebral palsy. Method: Mixed-methods study, with a retrospective cohort and cross-sectional evaluation of children with cerebral palsy and the indication and confection of thumb orthoses. Data collection included socioeconomic information, waiting time for the orthoses, and assessments of the difficulty to carry out daily activities and of manual functioning according to the Manual Ability Classification System (MACS). Descriptive analysis, Spearman’s coefficient and the Kruskal-Wallis test were calculated in the IBM software SPSS®. Results: 17 children and their parents/guardians were evaluated. Most were male (76.5%) with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (52.9%). Their mean time waiting for the orthosis was 34.12 days (SD= 39.01). Children with a more severe motor impairment (p= 0.038) or worse manual abilities (p= 0.012) waited to receive the orthosis for a shorter period. There was no statistical difference between the waiting time for the orthosis and the difficulty to perform daily tasks. Conclusion: The correlation between manual ability and the waiting time reiterates the importance of functional evaluations to prioritize the concession of Assistive Technology devices in public rehabilitation services, focusing the care on the more specific needs of each child.