Long-term Cognitive and Behavioral Consequences of Neonatal Encephalopathy Following Perinatal Asphyxia: a Review

Overview

Journal Eur J Pediatr

Specialty Pediatrics

Date 2007 Apr 12

PMID 17426984

Citations 128

Authors

Marielle van Handel

Hanna Swaab

Linda S de Vries

Marian J Jongmans

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Unlabelled: Neonatal encephalopathy (NE) following perinatal asphyxia (PA) is considered an important cause of later neurodevelopmental impairment in infants born at term. This review discusses long-term consequences for general cognitive functioning, educational achievement, neuropsychological functioning and behavior. In all areas reviewed, the outcome of children with mild NE is consistently positive and the outcome of children with severe NE consistently negative. However, children with moderate NE form a more heterogeneous group with respect to outcome. On average, intelligence scores are below those of children with mild NE and age-matched peers, but within the normal range. With respect to educational achievement, difficulties have been found in the domains reading, spelling and arithmetic/mathematics. So far, studies of neuropsychological functioning have yielded ambiguous results in children with moderate NE. A few studies suggest elevated rates of hyperactivity in children with moderate NE and autism in children with moderate and severe NE.

Conclusion: Behavioral monitoring is required for all children with NE. In addition, systematic, detailed neuropsychological examination is needed especially for children with moderate NE.

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