Abnormal Neurological Signs (abnormal + neurological_sign)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with HIV infection under 3 years of age

DEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 8 2006
C J Foster BA MBBS MRCPCH
Following the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy, children vertically infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) living in the developed world are surviving into adult life. This paper reviews the neurodevelopmental outcomes of 62 consecutively-presenting children with HIV-1 infection diagnosed before 3 years of age (32 males, 30 females; median age at presentation 6mo). Neurological and developmental data are presented with immunological and virological responses to antiretroviral therapy. Fourteen children (22%) had abnormal neurological signs and 25 (40%) demonstrated significant developmental delay on standardized developmental assessments. Children presenting with more severe HIV-1 disease and immune compromise had significantly more abnormal neurological signs and developmental delays than children presenting with milder HIV-1 symptomatology. Immune function, control of HIV-1 viral replication, and growth parameters improved with antiretroviral therapy (median age at last follow-up 7y 3mo); however, abnormal neurological signs and significant gross motor difficulties persisted. [source]


Neonatal jaundice: a risk factor for infantile autism?

PAEDIATRIC & PERINATAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 6 2008
Rikke Damkjær Maimburg
Summary In a previous study, we found that infants transferred to a neonatal ward after delivery had an almost twofold increased risk of being diagnosed with infantile autism later in childhood in spite of extensive controlling of obstetric risk factors. We therefore decided to investigate other reasons for transfer to a neonatal ward, in particular hyperbilirubinaemia and neurological abnormalities. We conducted a population-based matched case,control study of 473 children with autism and 473 matched controls born from 1990 to 1999 in Denmark. Cases were children reported with a diagnosis of infantile autism in the Danish Psychiatric Central Register. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals [CI] and likelihood ratio tests were used to test for effect modification. We found an almost fourfold risk for infantile autism in infants who had hyperbilirubinaemia after birth (OR 3.7 [95% CI 1.3, 10.5]). In stratified analysis, the association appeared limited to term infants (,37 weeks gestation). A strong association was also observed between abnormal neurological signs after birth and infantile autism, especially hypertonicity (OR 6.7 [95% CI 1.5, 29.7]). No associations were found between infantile autism and low Apgar scores, acidosis or hypoglycaemia. Our findings suggest that hyperbilirubinaemia and neurological abnormalities in the neonatal period are important factors to consider when studying causes of infantile autism. [source]


Aetiologic and clinical characteristics of syncope in Chinese children

ACTA PAEDIATRICA, Issue 10 2007
Li Chen
Abstract Aim: This study aimed to improve diagnostic efficacy of syncope in children by analyzing the aetiology and clinical characteristics of syncope in Chinese children. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the causes of syncope and diagnostic workup in 154 consecutive children seen in the Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital, China, because of a syncope-related event. Results: In all patients with transient loss of consciousness (TLOC), there were 136 (88.31%) patients attributing to syncope, and 18 (11.69%) belonging to nonsyncopal cases. Neurally mediated syncope (NMS) was the most common cause of syncope (99 cases; 64.3%), with cardiac causes ranking second (10 cases; 6.5%). Other nonsyncopal causes included psychiatric problems and neurological and metabolic disorders. In 25 cases (16.2%), the cause was uncertain. Cases of NMS often had clear inducement of syncope and prodromes. Children with cardiac syncope often had a history of cardiac disease, were often younger than those with NMS, and showed exercise-related syncope, syncope spells in any body position or at an early age, or sudden death in family members but no prodromes. Neurological disorder was suspected in cases of TLOC with seizures, TLOC spells in any position, postictal phase of disorientation or abnormal neurological signs. A metabolic cause is suspected with a history of metabolic disease, prolonged anger, or violent vomiting and diarrhoea. Children with psychiatric disorders were adolescent girls, with prolonged TLOC spells, who had more frequent TLOC. Although many tests were used in diagnosis, most were not goal directed. Now, electrocardiography is recommended in almost all children with syncope. Neurological testing, including electroencephalography and computed tomography were rarely helpful unless with evidence of neurological signs and symptoms. Head-up tilt test (HUTT) was most useful in children with recurrent syncope in whom heart disease was not suspected. Conclusion: NMS was the most common cause of syncope. We recommended HUTT as the important basis of the TLOC workup. [source]


Neurological signs and late-life depressive symptoms in a community population: the ESPRIT study

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GERIATRIC PSYCHIATRY, Issue 7 2010
Mishael Soremekun
Abstract Objective Depression in the elderly is common and often resistant to treatment. It has been suggested that late-life depression may be related to underlying neurobiological changes. However, these observations are derived from diverse clinical samples and as yet have not been confirmed in a more representative population study. Our aim was to investigate associations between neurological signs as markers of underlying brain dysfunction and caseness for depression in an elderly community sample, controlling for physical health and comorbid/past neurological disorders. Method A cross-sectional analysis of 2102 older people without dementia from the ESPRIT project. Depressive symptomatology was ascertained using the CES-D and abnormal neurological signs/comorbidity from a full neurological examination according to ICD-10 criteria. Results Pyramidal, extrapyramidal, cranial nerve and sensory deficit signs were significantly associated with case-level depressive symptoms. However, all odds ratios were close to null values in participants who did not have previous neurological disorder. Conclusions We confirmed previous findings of an association between neurological signs and case-level depressive symptoms in late life. However, this association may simply reflect the impact of more severe comorbid neurological disorder. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]