Sustained attention problems in children with early treated congenital hypothyroidism.
Sustained attention was studied in 48 children with early treated congenital hypothyroidism and 35 healthy controls, using a computer-paced and a self-paced continuous performance task. The performance of the patients, particularly those in the low T4 group (38 patients with T4 levels < 50 nmol/l at neonatal screening), declined in the final stage of the computer-paced task, suggesting a problem in remaining attentive over time. The performance of all children declined in the first and improved in the final stage of the self-paced task. This pattern was most pronounced in the low T4 group, reflecting greater variability in their task performance over time, again indicating a problem in sustaining attention. No correlation was found between onset of treatment and sustained attention. The small size of the intermediate T4 group (10 patients with T4 levels > or = 50 nmol/l at neonatal screening) made the results more difficult to interpret and may have concealed a problem with sustained attention in this group.
Kooistra
L
L
Laboratory of Experimental Clinical Psychology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands.
van der Meere
J J
JJ
Vulsma
T
T
Kalverboer
A F
AF
D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D003409:Congenital Hypothyroidism; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007037:Hypothyroidism / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D015997:Neonatal Screening; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D013974:Thyroxine / Q000097:blood; D013997:Time Factors
D013974:Thyroxine