Trichuris trichiura infection and working memory in Jamaican schoolchildren
Meeks Gardner, Julie M; Grantham McGregor, Sally M; Baddeley, Alan.
West Indian med. j
; 43(suppl. 1): 27, Apr. 1994.
Artículo
en Inglés
| MedCarib | ID: med-5453
Trichuris trichiura is extremely prevalent worldwide, and there is concern that this geohelminth may affect the school achievement of children in developing countries. However, the effects on cognition are unclear. Only one treatment trial has been reported in children with moderate to heavy infections, and treatment benefited several cognitive functions. We attempted to replicate that study in children with mild to moderate infections. Grade 5 children (9-12 yr) with minimum 1200EPG (eggs per gram of stool) were randomly assigned to placebo (n=48) or treatment (n=49) groups. Pairs of subjects were matched with uninfected classmates (n=48). On baseline, the test battery was administered and albendazole given to the treatment group while the other groups received a placebo. The test battery comprised 7 tests French Learning Task, Digit Span Forwards and Backwards, Corsi Block Span, Fluency, Picture Search, Silly Sentences. Three months later, the treatment was repeated and the children tested one to two weeks after this. On baseline the infected groups performed significantly more poorly than the non-infected only in the Silly Sentences test (ANOVA, p<0.001). Children with infections above 2000 EPG performed significantly worse than children with less intense infections in Picture Search (p<0.05) and in Silly Sentences (p<0.05). Treatment effects were examined in the infected groups only using multiple regression analyses of the final test scores. There were no significant treatment benefits. We were therefore unable to replicate the previous study. This may be explained by the lower intensity of infections in the children in this study. It is possible that the effect on working memory depends on a threshold level of infection.
Biblioteca responsable:
JM3.1
Ubicación: JM3.1; R18.W4
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