Premium
Cognitive outcome in pediatric brain tumor survivors: Delayed attention deficit at long‐term follow‐up
Author(s) -
Brière MarieEve,
Scott James G.,
McNallKnapp René Y.,
Adams Russell L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.21223
Subject(s) - medicine , cognition , neuropsychology , medulloblastoma , cognitive skill , cognitive decline , intelligence quotient , clinical psychology , audiology , pediatrics , psychiatry , dementia , disease , cancer research
Background Treatment of childhood brain tumors has often been associated with long‐term cognitive morbidity in children. Our previous research identified age at diagnosis, polytherapy and brain radiation dose as treatment factors affecting neuropsychological outcome most strongly in children with cancer 1. Our current goal was to measure the change across different cognitive functions. Procedure This study examined the cognitive outcome over repeat testing in a heterogeneous sample of 18 children with brain tumors. Tumor types included medulloblastoma and glioma. ANOVA's for repeated measures were used to evaluate the changes in cognitive domains across follow‐up evaluations. Results Consistent with previous findings, the most deleterious effects were seen on IQ indices of non verbal cognitive ability, visual perceptual skills and information processing speed. Analyses reveal that the attentional factor, Freedom from Distractibility, is the only IQ index that declines over subsequent testing. The statistical decline was attributable to a significant decline on the arithmetic subtest, as well as a non‐significant trend for the auditory attention span subtest. Conclusions This study reveals that while most indices remained stable over repeat testing, auditory attention and concentration skills decline. Long‐term outcome is discussed in light of the high prevalence of attention and mathematic difficulties reported in these children and the need for preventive and remedial approaches. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008;50:337–340. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.