Motor performance and dyslexia in a national cohort of 10-year-old children.

Data from the 10-year follow-up of the 1970 British Births Survey were examined for associations between motor performance and dyslexia. Five tests of motor performance were used: (a) balancing on one leg, (b) throwing a ball in the air, clapping and catching it, (c) walking backwards, (d) sorting matches and (e) graphaesthesia (recognizing shapes drawn on the palm of the hand). These tests were given to 12 950 children aged between 10 and 11 years old.

What kind of evidence do we need for evaluating therapeutic interventions?

The belief that randomized controlled trials provide a 'gold standard' for evaluating therapeutic interventions is challenged. The need for research designs that produce valid and reliable information about interventions, which is clinically/educationally relevant and personally important, is discussed together with possibilities for broadening the methods of enquiry and evaluation of interventions. It is also suggested that there is an opportunity to further support the development of rigour in reporting intervention studies irrespective of the epistemology employed.

Cognitive outcomes of multiple mild head injuries in children.

This study assessed cumulative effects of multiple mild head injuries on cognitive functioning in children. Subjects included 1586 children with one mild head injury, 278 with two, and 51 with three or more head injuries between birth and age 10 years and controls without head injuries matched on gender and total number of injuries. The number of head injuries and injuries not to the head was associated with decreasing performance on measures of intelligence (p < .

Cognitive and behavioral sequelae of mild head injury in children.

Data from a longitudinal study of 13,000 British children were used to assess the sequelae of mild head injury 1 to 5 years after injury. One hundred fourteen children with parental reports of mild head injury treated with ambulatory care or admission to hospital for one night were compared with 601 children with limb fractures, 605 with lacerations, 136 with burns, and 1726 children without injury. Scores at age 10 were adjusted for intelligence, aggressive and hyperactive behavior at age 5, sex, socioeconomic status, and six other social factors.

Does fetal heart rate predict subsequent heart rate in childhood?

An investigation to determine whether there is any relationship between extremes of fetal heart rate during labour and subsequent heart rate at the age of 10 was carried out using data from the 1970 cohort of British Births. In 11,000 nationally representative children it was found that low fetal heart rate (below 120 beats/min) was associated with a heart rate at age 10 which was significantly lower than in those children whose fetal heart rate had remained between 120 and 160 beats/min (P less than 0.01).