title: Cranial index of children with normal and abnormal brain development in Sokoto, Nigeria: A comparative study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Abnormal brain development due to neurodevelopmental disorders in children has always been an important concern, but yet has to be considered as a significant public health problem, especially in the low- and middle-income countries including Nigeria.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study is to determine whether abnormal brain development in the form of neurodevelopmental disorders causes any deviation in the cranial index of affected children.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a comparative study on the head length, head width, and cranial index of 112 children (72 males and 40 females) diagnosed with at least one abnormal problem in brain development, in the form of a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD), in comparison with that of 218 normal growing children without any form of NDD (121 males and 97 females), aged 0-18 years old seen at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, over a period of six months, June to December, 2012. The head length and head width of the children was measured using standard anatomical landmarks and cranial index calculated. The data obtained was entered into the Microsoft excel worksheet and analyzed using SPSS version 17.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean Cephalic Index for normal growing children with normal brain development was 79.82 ± 3.35 and that of the children with abnormal brain development was 77.78 ± 2.95 and the difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It can be deduced from this present study that the cranial index does not change in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
authors: Department of Anatomy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria.
authors: Muhammad Awwal
authors: MA
authors: Musa
authors: Department of Anatomy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria.
authors: Abdullahi Daudu
authors: AD
authors: Zagga
authors: Department of Radiology, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria.
authors: Mohammed
authors: M
authors: Danfulani
authors: Department of Anatomy, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria.
authors: Aziz Abdo
authors: AA
authors: Tadros
authors: Department of Pediatrics, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto, Nigeria.
authors: Hamid
authors: H
authors: Ahmed
keywords: Abnormal brain development; brain growth; children; cranial index; head shape; neurodevelopmental disorder