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Challenges in measuring the effects of pharmacological interventions on cognitive and adaptive functioning in individuals with Down syndrome: A systematic review
Author(s) -
Keeling Lori A.,
Spiridigliozzi Gail A.,
Hart Sarah J.,
Baker Jane A.,
Jones Harrison N.,
Kishnani Priya S.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.064
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1552-4833
pISSN - 1552-4825
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.a.38416
Subject(s) - observational study , psychological intervention , cognition , adaptive behavior , psychology , dementia , adaptive functioning , clinical psychology , population , developmental psychology , medicine , psychiatry , disease , environmental health , pathology
We systematically reviewed the measures used in pharmaceutical trials in children/adults with Down syndrome without dementia. Our purpose was to identify developmentally appropriate outcome measures capable of detecting changes in cognitive and adaptive functioning in this population. Eleven studies were included and used diverse outcome measures across the domains of language, memory, attention, behavior, and executive/adaptive functioning. Our results highlight the challenges in selecting measures capable of capturing improvements in pharmaceutical trials in individuals with DS. We offer suggestions to enhance future research, including: conducting studies with larger samples of participants with a range of developmental abilities; modifying existing/developing novel outcome measures; incorporating advances from related areas and DS observational studies; and considering alternative analytic techniques to characterize treatment effects.