Neuropsychologic function in same-sex twins discordant for perinatal brain damage.
We studied childhood neuropsychologic function in two pairs of low birth weight, same-sex twins reared together but with different patterns of concordance and discordance for intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) and hydrocephalus (HYD). Same-sex twins have discordant levels of cognitive skills when one twin but not the other develops IVH alone or IVH and HYD at birth. The results bear on several issues: the effects of prematurity, the effects of IVH, the combined effects of IVH and HYD, and the potential applications of the present methodology of pairwise-matched twin comparisons for understanding how different forms of perinatal brain damage affect childhood cognitive functions important for learning.
Dennis
M
M
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Barnes
M A
MA
D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D002543:Cerebral Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D007360:Intelligence / Q000235:genetics; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011932:Reading