A population-based nested case control study on recurrent pneumonias in children with severe generalized cerebral palsy: ethical considerations of the design and representativeness of the study sample

Table 4 Comparison of the parent-reported characteristics between the participants and non-participants

		Non-participants		Participants
			Valid*		valid*
Total number		379		194
Mean Age (years)		10.6 (4.3)	0.67	8.9 (4.4)	1
Gender (% of boys)		50.2	0.7	53.1	1
Mean Height (cm)		130.3 (21.9)	0.52	124.0 (20.1)	0.91
Median Weight (kg)		28.0 [17.0]	0.59	24.7 [16.1]	0.88
Median BMI (kg/m²)		16.4 [4.2]	0.51	15.9 [4.0]	0.85
Dysphagia	severe (%)	27.3		37.8
	moderate (%)	17.7		51.2
	no / mild (%)	55.0	0.68	11.0	0.65
Lower respiratory tract infections (%)		16.9	0.68	27.3	0.45
recurrent** (%)		12.5	0.67	18.2	0.45
Reported gastro-oesophageal reflux (%)		25.1		44.3	0.72

Standard deviations are between brackets, inter quartile range is between square brackets, *valid = fraction of the population with known information, ** recurrent = two or more episodes per year, BMI = body mass index.

ISSN: 1471-2431