title: Data on the safety of repeated MRI in healthy children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To address the question of the safety of MRI for research in normal, healthy children. We examined MRI, neurocognitive and biometric data collected in a group of healthy, normally developing children who have participated in a 10 year longitudinal fMRI study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Thirty-one healthy children ranging in age from 5 to 7 years were enrolled between 2000 and 2002 and were tested yearly as part of a longitudinal study of normal language development. Twenty-eight of these children have completed multiple neuroimaging, neurocognitive and biometric exams. These children ranged in age from 5 to 18 years during the course of the study and were exposed to up to 10 annual MRI scans. Linear regression of the IQ (WISC-III) (Wechsler, 1991), executive function (BRIEF) (Gioia et al., 2002), and language (OWLS) (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1995) measures was performed against the number of years of exposure to MRI in the study. Body mass index (BMI) (Ogden et al., 2006) was also examined as a function of years and compared with normative values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The WISC-III Full Scale (FSIQ) in our longitudinal cohort was higher than the average at baseline. There was no significant change over time in mean FSIQ p = 0.80, OWLS p = 0.16, or BRIEF p = 0.67. Similarly, over 10 years there were no significant changes in the Coding subtest of WISC III and height and body mass index did not deviate from norms (50th percentile).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Examination of neurocognitive and biometric data from a decade-long, longitudinal fMRI study of normal language development in this small, longitudinal sample of healthy children in the age range of 5 to 18 years, who received up to 10 MRI scans, provides scientific evidence to support the belief that MRI poses minimal risk for use in research with healthy children.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA ; Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Scott K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Holland
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Mekibib
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altaye
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA ; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
authors.forename: Anna W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Byars
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA ; Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences and Disorders, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Plante
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Neuroimaging Research Consortium, Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation, Cincinnati, OH, USA ; Department of Neurology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Jerzy P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Szaflarski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition / Q000528:radiation effects*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D060526:Magnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D061214:Patient Safety; D018570:Risk Assessment
keywords: BMI; BRIEF; IQ; Longitudinal; MRI; OWLS; Safety healthy children repeated