title: Impaired IQ and academic skills in adults who experienced moderate to severe infantile malnutrition: a 40-year study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate IQ and academic skills in adults who experienced an episode of moderate-to-severe infantile malnutrition and a healthy control group, all followed since childhood in the Barbados Nutrition Study.
  
  
  METHODS
  IQ and academic skills were assessed in 77 previously malnourished adults (mean age = 38.4 years; 53% male) and 59 controls (mean age = 38.1 years; 54% male). Group comparisons were carried out by multiple regression and logistic regression, adjusted for childhood socioeconomic factors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The previously malnourished group showed substantial deficits on all outcomes relative to healthy controls (P < 0.0001). IQ scores in the intellectual disability range (< 70) were nine times more prevalent in the previously malnourished group (odds ratio = 9.18; 95% confidence interval = 3.50-24.13). Group differences in IQ of approximately one standard deviation were stable from adolescence through mid-life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Moderate-to-severe malnutrition during infancy is associated with a significantly elevated incidence of impaired IQ in adulthood, even when physical growth is completely rehabilitated. An episode of malnutrition during the first year of life carries risk for significant lifelong functional morbidity.
authors.forename: Deborah P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Waber
authors.forename: Cyralene P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Bryce
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Girard
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zichlin
authors.forename: Garrett M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Fitzmaurice
authors.forename: Janina R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Galler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001460:Barbados / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007228:Infant Nutrition Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors
keywords: Academic achievement; IQ; Malnutrition; Socioeconomic