A/Professor Dinah Reddihough
contact details
A/Professor Dinah Reddihough
Royal Children's Hospital
Flemington Road
Parkville
Victoria 3052
Australia
T +61 3 9345 5898
E dinah.reddihough@rch.org.au
biography
Dinah Reddihough is a paediatrician involved in the clinical
care of children with disabilities, particularly cerebral palsy.
She was director of the Royal Children's Hospitals Department of
Developmental Medicine between 1986 and February 2011 and is a
Clinical Professor in the University of Melbourne. As part of her
commitment to improve knowledge and promote best practice, she has
developed a multidisciplinary research program. This is focused on
gaining an improved understanding of both the causes of childhood
disabilities and the optimal interventions for them.
The ultimate goal is to improve outcomes and quality of life for
children with disabilities and their families. She has 108 peer
reviewed publications (97 articles in refereed journals, 11 book
chapters) and has won 77 research grants. Dinah is actively
involved in teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate
students, and contributes to a number of community organizations
that assist individuals with disabilities.
achievements
1999 Australian Cerebral Palsy Association Distinguished Service
Medal
2000 Royal Children's Hospital Gold Medal
2005 AO - Honorary Officer in the General Division of the Order of
Australia awarded for services to medicine, particularly for
children with cerebral palsy, and for research.
research focus & interest
Dinah Reddihough's main research interest is in the area
childhood disability, particularly cerebral palsy. The approaches
used include collection of epidemiological data, conduct of
randomized trials and development of measurement tools. The
ultimate aim of the research program is to learn more about risk
factors and causes with the hope of developing preventive
strategies, and to evaluate the commonly used interventions to
determine which treatments lead to optimal outcomes for children
and their families. Dinah established the Victorian Cerebral Palsy
Register which has grown to be one of the largest cerebral palsy
databases both nationally and internationally, and is the basis for
many of the studies that are undertaken. The Register has generated
41 publications over the past 20 years.
Many of the studies have resulted in changes in clinical
practice, for example, the finding that children with severe
cerebral palsy require regular hip Xrays to monitor hip
displacement in contrast to those with mild cerebral palsy, has
enabled establishment of guidelines for frequency of hip Xray
examination. Randomised trials have demonstrated the efficacy of
treatments such as home based intervention for young children with
developmental delay, and the benefits of botulinum toxin for saliva
control.
An NHMRC multicentre randomized trial controlled trial of
Fluoxetine versus placebo for the treatment of restricted,
repetitive and stereotyped behaviours in children and adolescents
with autism is in progress. The measurement tools, now used
both nationally and internationally, include the Melbourne
Assessment of Unilateral Upper Limb Function, the Cerebral Palsy
Quality of Life Questionnaire for Children and the Drooling Impact
Scale, were developed in collaboration with a number of groups.
Over the next five years, new technologies will be used to assist
in achieving our aims and our collaborations with teams both on the
campus and external to it, will continue to grow.
publications
Waters, E, Davis E, Mackinnon A, Boyd R, Graham H, Lo S, Wolfe
R, Stevenson R, Bjornson K, Blair E, Hoare P, RavensSieberer U.
Reddihough D, Cerebral Palsy Quality of Life Questionnaire for
Children (CP QOL- Child): Psychometric properties of the quality of
life questionnaire for children with CP. Dev Med Child
Neurol. 2007;49:-55.
Graham HK, Boyd R, Carlin JB, Dobson F, Lowe K, Nattrass G,
Thomason P, Wolfe R, Reddihough D. Does Botulinum toxin A combined
with hip bracing prevent hip dislocation in children with cerebral
palsy and "Hips-at-risk"? A randomized controlled trial. J Bone
Joint Surg Am. 2008; 90:23 - 33.
Tay G, Graham H, Graham HK, Leonard H, Reddihough D, Baikie G. Hip
displacement and scoliosis in Rett syndrome - screening is
required. Dev Med Child Neurol 52(1):93-8, 2010.
Reid S, Johnson HM, Reddihough D. The Drooling Impact Scale:
an evaluative measure of the impact of drooling in children with
developmental disabilities. Dev Med Child Neurol, 2010;52:
e23-28.
Reid S, Jaques AM, Susanto C, Breheny S, Reddihough DS, Halliday
J. Cerebral palsy and assisted reproductive technologies: a
case-control study. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2010; 52 (7):
e161-e66.
Wanigasinghe J, Reid S, Mackay M, Reddihough DS, Harvey AS,
Freeman JL. Epilepsy in hemiplegic cerebral palsy due to
perinatal arterial ischaemic stroke. Dev Med Child
Neurol 2010,52:1021-1027.
Leonard JM, Cozens AL, Reid SM Fahey MC, Ditchfield MR, Reddihough
DS. Should children with cerebral palsy and normal imaging undergo
testing for inherited metabolic disorders? Dev Med Child Neurol
2011, 53: 226-232.
Reid S, Carlin JB, Reddihough DS. Distribution of motor types in
cerebral palsy: how do registry data compare? Dev Med Child Neurol.
2011, 53: 233-238.
Williams J, Reid SM, Reddihough DS, Anderson V. Motor imagery
ability in children with congenital hemiplegia: effect of lesion
side and functional level. Res Dev Disabil 2010;
doi:10.1016/ridd.2010.11.006.
Reddihough DS, Graham HK. "Commentary on 'Botulinum toxin
type B for sialorrhea in children with cerebral palsy: a randomized
trial comparing three doses'" Dev Med Child Neurol doi:
10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.03977.x
Reid SM, Carlin JB, Reddihough DS. Classification of topographical
pattern of spasticity in cerebral palsy: a registry perspective.
Research in Developmental Disabilities 2011.
doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.05.012.
Reid SM, Carlin JB, Reddihough DS Rates of cerebral palsy in
Victoria, 1970-2004: has there been a change?
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.04072.x
Reid SM, Modak MB, Berkowitz RG, Reddihough DS. A population-based
study and systematic review of hearing loss in children with
cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.2011.04101.x