Neuropsychology and malnutrition: a study with 7 to 10 years-old children in a poor community

• Autor(a) principal: Miranda, Mônica Carolina [UNIFESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Nóbrega, Fernando J., Sato, Kazue, Pompéia, Sabine [UNIFESP], Sinnes, Elaine G. [UNIFESP], Bueno, Orlando Francisco Amodeo [UNIFESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNIFESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1519-38292007000100006; http://repositorio.unifesp.br/handle/11600/3601
• topic: Malnutrition; Neuropsychological tests; Neuropsychology; Desnutrição; Testes neuropsicológicos; Neuropsicologia

OBJECTIVES: to compare the neuropsychological profile of eutrophic, stunted and chronically malnourished children, and to analyse the role of socio-economic factors on the cognitive development. METHODS: seven to 10 year-old girls and boys from a poor community in São Paulo were evaluated: 27 eutrophyc, 31 stunted and 15 chronically malnourished. Neuropsychological evaluation involved cognitive functions not fully assessed in this population, such as working, declarative and non-declarative memories, attention and executive functions. Socio-economic indicators, maternal mental health and the children's behaviour at school were also evaluated. RESULTS: malnourished children had a lower score on the vocabulary test than the eutrophic and stunted groups (p s<0.05), performed worse in the visuospatial working memory task (p = 0.01), were more anxious than the stunted (p = 0.006), and despite having lower average birth weight than eutrophic children (p = 0.01), only two children as had prenatal malnutrition. Stunted children exhibited no impairment. No differences in socio-economic variables were found among groups. CONCLUSIONS: chronic malnutrition was associated to impairment of expressive speech, visual-spatial short-term memory and increased anxiety. No effects were observed in intellectual abilities, executive functions, verbal working memory, long-term memory, nor in visuoconstructive function. Preservation of the latter cognitive functions can be attributed to adequate environmental conditions and the lack of overall prenatal malnutrition.