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Attention deficits in children with sickle cell disease

Nina A Nabors1, Angela K Freymuth

  • 1Eastern Michigan University, USA. Nnabors@online.emich.edu

Perceptual and Motor Skills
|October 9, 2002
PubMed

Insights

Children with sickle cell disease (SCD) show cognitive deficits, but strokes, not SCD itself, appear to cause these attentional issues in children. Further research is needed.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Neurology
  • Hematology
  • Neuropsychology

Background:

  • Sickle cell disease (SCD) is linked to potential cognitive deficits.
  • Previous research suggests cognitive impairment may occur even without overt cerebrovascular events like stroke.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate specific attentional deficits in children with sickle cell disease.
  • To differentiate the impact of SCD from stroke on cognitive functioning.

Main Methods:

  • Compared 12 children with SCD and stroke history, 14 children with SCD without stroke, and 13 healthy siblings.
  • Assessed attention, intellectual functioning, academic achievement, and adaptive functioning.

Main Results:

  • Children with SCD (with or without stroke) performed significantly worse than controls on visual scanning, coding, reading, arithmetic, and spelling tests.
  • Children with SCD without stroke did not significantly differ from healthy controls, suggesting stroke is the primary cause of deficits.

Conclusions:

  • Cognitive deficits observed in children with SCD are likely attributable to cerebrovascular events (stroke) rather than the disease itself.
  • Findings highlight the impact of stroke on academic performance in children with SCD.

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