Aim: Assessing rates of neurodevelopmental problems (NDPs) in 11-year-old children and possible association with other health complaints and school performance.
Methods: In-school study of 11-year-old children as an add-on assessment to the 4th grade regular health check-up, comprising a structured physical neurodevelopmental examination, neuropsychological assessment, behavioural ratings, maternal interview, review of medical records and academic achievements.
Results: Out of 348 children recruited from eight schools, 223 (64%) participated.
Objective: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) is an umbrella term covering a spectrum of medical conditions caused by prenatal alcohol exposure. The FASD Eye Code is a new complementary ophthalmological diagnostic tool created to corroborate the complex FASD diagnosis. The aim of this work was to validate the FASD Eye Code by testing it on a second group of children diagnosed with FASD in a clinical setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Determine the prevalence of symptoms of neurodevelopmental problems (NDPs) with a semi-structured review of fourth grade students' medical records, its interrater agreement and validity as compared with clinical assessment.
Methods: A school-based sample of 11-year-old children provided child health care (CHC) records and school health care (SHC) records. A pediatric neurologist, child psychiatrist and an adult psychiatrist scored the records, with the "Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations-Questionnaire" (ESSENCE-Q, 12 items scored 0-2, summary score range 0-24).
Purpose: To determine the prevalence of parent-rated developmental concern using the ESSENCE-Q (Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations-Questionnaire, 12-items, score range 0-24) and to ascertain the predictive validity and optimal cutoff level of the instrument in a school-based sample of 11-year-old children.
Methods: In a cross-sectional, school-based study, participants underwent a clinical assessment by a physician and a psychologist, teachers and parents completed the SDQ (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire), medical health records and national tests were reviewed, and parents independently completed the ESSENCE-Q. In a case-conference outcomes were defined as a) the need for further clinical work-up due to suspected neurodevelopmental problems (NDPs) and b) degree of investigator-rated symptoms/impairment from NDPs on the CGI-S (Clinical Global Impression-Severity instrument, range 1-7, 4-7 defined as clinically symptomatic).
Objective: Investigate predictors of adverse outcome in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) combined with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) at 6 years of age.
Design: Prospective population-based cohort study.
Setting: Western Sweden.
Objective: To create an easy-to-use complementary ophthalmological tool to support a fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) diagnosis.
Methods And Analysis: The FASD Eye Code was derived from 37 children with FASD evaluated along with 65 healthy age-matched and sex-matched controls. Four ophthalmological categories, which are abnormalities commonly found in children with FASD, were ranked independently on a 4-point scale, with 1 reflecting normal finding and 4 a strong presence of an abnormality: visual acuity, refraction, strabismus/binocular function and ocular structural abnormalities.
Purpose: To investigate visual perception problems (VPPs), health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and vision-related quality of life (VRQoL) in young adults with foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and to compare the results with healthy controls.
Methods: Thirty young adults with FASD (13 female; mean age 23 years) and 29 controls (20 female; mean age 25 years) participated. Five areas of VPPs were assessed by a structured history-taking.
Background: Although the body of research concerning neurodevelopmental disorders is vast, there is a scarcity of longitudinal studies beyond late adolescence, and of studies taking co-existing disorders into account. The present study aimed to investigate outcome in adulthood for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) combined with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) diagnosed at 6.6 years of age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground/aims: Ophthalmological abnormalities such as ptosis, strabismus, refractive errors and optic nerve hypoplasia have been reported in foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether retinal thickness, retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) and optic disc area (ODA) differ between individuals with FASD and healthy controls.
Methods: Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in terms of logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR), refraction, and fundus variables measured by optical coherence tomography were obtained from 26 young adults with FASD (12 women, median age 23 years) and 27 controls (18 women, median age 25 years).
Purpose: To investigate whether ophthalmologic findings in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) persist into young adulthood.
Design: Prospective cohort study.
Methods: Thirty children (13 female) adopted from eastern Europe to Sweden in the 1990s and diagnosed with FASD by a multidisciplinary team at the median age of 7.
Background: Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are a global health concern. To further understand FASD in adulthood is a major public health interest.
Objective: To describe the clinical characteristics of young adults with FASD adopted from orphanages to a socially more favourable and stable rearing environment as children.
Background: Knowledge about the long-term effects on blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI) when treating young patients for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) with stimulants is limited. Most of the studies have reported mean and not individual values for anthropometrics and BP in treatment with stimulants. This seems to be the first study of changes based on the analyses of individual data measured over time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: There are few long-term studies of adaptive functions as an outcome measure of pharmacological treatment in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study assessed the adaptive abilities of children with ADHD before and after several years of pharmacological treatment.
Method: We studied 12 children with a mean age of 15 years - seven boys and five girls - who had continued pharmacological treatment for ADHD for more than four years.
Aim: To compare adaptive functioning in children with mild intellectual disability (MID) with that of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Methods: Thirty-three children with MID were contrasted with 27 children with ADHD with regard to adaptive functioning as measured by the Adaptive Behaviour Assessment System (ABAS-II). The group with MID was population-based, and the group with ADHD was considered representative of a clinically referred group with that diagnosis.
Monoaminergic dysregulation is implicated in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and methylphenidate and amphetamines are the most frequently prescribed pharmacological agents for treating ADHD. However, it has recently been proposed that the core symptoms of the disorder might be due to an imbalance between monoaminergic and cholinergic systems. In this study, we used fibroblast cell homogenates from boys with and without ADHD as an extraneural cell model to examine the cholinergic receptor density, that is, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs).
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