RESUMO
This prospective 20-year follow-up study contrasts the development of a group of 20 children grossly undernourished during infancy (index group) with that of a matched control group. There were significant differences between two groups in head circumference, height, weight, full-scale IQ, verbal quotient, non-verbal quotient and in visuo-motor perceptual function. Despite their disadvantages, the index group have integrated effectively into the community, and their children have not experienced the nutritional deprivation they suffered during their own childhoods.
Assuntos
Transtornos Cognitivos/psicologia , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/psicologia , Ajustamento Social , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios X , Adolescente , Adulto , Estatura , Peso Corporal , Encéfalo/crescimento & desenvolvimento , Criança , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Lactente , Inteligência , Masculino , Destreza Motora , Desenvolvimento da Personalidade , Testes Psicológicos , Fatores Socioeconômicos , Percepção VisualAssuntos
Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/diagnóstico por imagem , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios X , Adulto , Atrofia/etiologia , Encéfalo/patologia , Feminino , Seguimentos , Desenvolvimento Humano , Humanos , Masculino , Desnutrição Proteico-Calórica/complicaçõesRESUMO
This third 5-year follow-up on the effects of severe undernutrition during infancy on subsequent brain growth and intellectual development confirms the level of gross retardation of intellect in the undernourished group when compared with the controls. As the subjects are now 15-18 years of age this must be permanent. All but 5 of the undernourished group are now living in conditions comparable to the controls. Improved nutrition is manifest by catch-up in height, in that the mean difference between undernourished subjects and controls has decreased by 2-73 cm. Remarkably, the difference in head circumference has increased by 0-5 cm, the mean head circumference of the undernourished now being 2-8 cm less than that of the controls. The Bender Gestalt and Human Figure Drawing tests did not correlate with the intelligence tests, indicating a separate deficit of a marked disturbance of visual-motor perception in 17 of the undernourished subjects, in 9 of whom these tests were highly significant of minimal brain dysfunction (5 of the controls). In retrospect there is much evidence to suggest the controls were also suboptimal; 8 controls had abnormal electroencephalograms as did 6 of the undernourished group.
