title: Morphometry of the corpus callosum in Chinese children: relationship with gender and academic performance.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Organ Imaging, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, Hong Kong, SAR.
authors.forename: Wing Hung Alex
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.forename: Yu Lung
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Kit Sum Agnes
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Au
authors.forename: Ka Wai David
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Ting Fai
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Cho Yee
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: To
mesh_terms: 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