Morphometry of the corpus callosum in Chinese children: relationship with gender and academic performance.
BACKGROUND
The corpus callosum has been widely studied, but no study has demonstrated whether its size and shape have any relationship with language and calculation performance.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the morphometry of the corpus callosum of normal Chinese children and its relationship with gender and academic performance.


METHODS
One hundred primary school children (63 boys, 37 girls; age 6.5-10 years) were randomly selected and the standardized academic performance for each was ascertained. On the mid-sagittal section of a brain MRI, the length, height and total area of the corpus callosum and its thickness at different sites were measured. These were correlated with sex and academic performance.


RESULTS
Apart from the normal average dimension of the different parts of the corpus callosum, thickness at the body-splenium junction in the average-to-good performance group was significantly greater than the below-average performance group in Chinese language (P=0.005), English language (P=0.02) and mathematics (P=0.01). The remainder of the callosal thickness showed no significant relationship with academic performance. There was no significant sex difference in the thickness of any part of the corpus callosum.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings raise the suggestion that language and mathematics proficiency may be related to the morphometry of the fibre connections in the posterior parietal lobes.
Ng
Wing Hung Alex
WH
Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, SAR.
Chan
Yu Lung
YL
Au
Kit Sum Agnes
KS
Yeung
Ka Wai David
KW
Kwan
Ting Fai
TF
To
Cho Yee
CY
D002648:Child; D002681:China; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012727:Sex Characteristics