Abstract

Objectives: We evaluated the demographic data of patients who applied to the Training and Research Center for Mentally and Physically Handicapped Children in Trakya University.

Study Design: The demographic data of 1167 patients who were examined and monitored in the center between January 1995 and December 2003 were evaluated.

Results: The majority of applications were made between 1997 and 1998. Of 1167 patients, there were 476 females (40.8%) and 691 males (59.2%) with a mean age of 4.22±4.00 years. Distribution of diagnoses were as follows: mentally handicapped in 47.1% (n=550), cerebral palsy in 37.5% (n=438), autism in 2.7% (n=32), Down syndrome in 4.2% (n=49), developmental retardation in 8.4% (n=98). Of all the applications, 335 (28.7%) were made from the center of Edirne district. Only 14% of all the cases were found to follow the education program in the center.

Conclusion: This study demonstrated the regional distribution of cases and a considerably low attendance rate. Elicitation of more detailed demographic data on handicapped children and their families may contribute nationwide studies on handicapped population.