[Executive functions in children with phenylketonuria: variations as a function of phenilalanine plasm level].
The present study investigates the hypothesis of a specific executive function deficit in children with Phenilketonuria (PKU) whose Phenilalanine level is between 360 and 600 mmol/l. Participants were 21 early and continuously treated 9-month-old children with PKU and 18 9-month-old controls. The children with PKU were divided into two groups on the basis of their mean phenilalanine level prior to the study: the group of children whose level was between 120 and 360 mmol/l, and the group of children whose level was between 360 and 600 mmol/l. Although the three groups did not differ with regard to performance on a test of global mental development, the PKU children with high phenilalanine performed significantly worse than both the low phenilalanine PKU children and the control children on a task that assesses executive functioning.
Núcleo de Neurociências e Análise Experimental do Comportamento do Curso de Psicologia, Faculdade Metropolitana, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Leandro Fernandes
LF
Malloy-Diniz
Cláudia
C
Cardoso-Martins
Karina Cunha
KC
Carneiro
Márcia Maria Magrille
MM
Cerqueira
Ana Paula Almeida
AP
Ferreira
Marcos José B de
MJ
Aguiar
Ana Lúcia
AL
Starling
D001288:Attention; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018730:Infant Behavior; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D010649:Phenylalanine / Q000032:analysis*; D010661:Phenylketonurias / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D010649:Phenylalanine