Background: The motor disorders of cerebral palsy (CP) may not only affect children’s functional capacities, but also their health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine the correlation between gross motor functions and HRQOL of Thai children with spastic diplegia.
Material and Method: Fifty children with spastic diplegia were recruited from an outpatient department of Thammasat University Hospital and Rajanukul Hospital. All participants were measured for gross motor functions by the gross motor function measure (GMFM-66) and their HRQOL by reports of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were used to determine the correlations between dimensional scores of GMFM-66 and PedsQL.
Results: Forty-five of 50 children with spastic diplegia were completely undertaken for both GMFM-66 and PedsQL measures. The total HRQOL scale score had a fairly significant degree of relationship with the total GMFM score (r = 0.48, p<0.001). The physical health summary score had a notably moderate to good degree of relationship with the total GMFM score (r = 0.52, p<0.001). The psychosocial health summary score had a fair degree relationship with the total GMFM score (r = 0.27, p = 0.076).
Conclusion: The gross motor function tended to correlate with HRQOL in children with spastic diplegia, especially with
regard to the physical aspects of the HRQOL.

Keywords: Spastic diplegia, Cerebral palsy, Gross motor function measure-66, Health-related quality of life, PedsQL,
Correlation