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Development of children with early cytomegalovirus infection
Insights
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in early infancy can impact child development, particularly speech. Perinatally infected infants showed more speech delays compared to non-infected peers by age two.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Infectious Diseases
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus with potential long-term health implications.
- Early childhood development is a critical period influenced by various environmental and biological factors.
- Understanding the impact of perinatal infections on neurodevelopment is crucial for early intervention.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between cytomegalomegalovirus (CMV) infection acquired in early life and child development at two years of age.
- To assess the specific effects of perinatal CMV infection on gross motor, fine motor, and language skills.
Main Methods:
- A cohort of 116 randomly selected Finnish infants was followed from birth.
- Developmental assessments were conducted at age two using the Denver Development Screening Test (DDST).
- Infants were categorized based on CMV infection status: congenital, postnatal (0-6 months), late postnatal (6-12 months), and non-infected.
Main Results:
- Significantly higher rates of speech delay were observed in infants with perinatal CMV infection (7/39) compared to non-infected infants (3/70).
- While not statistically significant, non-infected children performed better on some fine motor skill assessments than perinatally infected children.
- Congenital CMV infection did not appear to affect developmental outcomes at two years compared to the non-infected group.
Conclusions:
- Perinatal cytomegalovirus infection is associated with an increased risk of speech development delays in young children.
- While fine motor skills may be subtly affected, the most pronounced impact of perinatal CMV infection appears to be on language development.
- Further research is warranted to explore the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of early-life CMV infections.
Abstract:
To find out whether cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during the first months of life influences child development, developmental assessment at the age of 2 years was performed on 116 Finnish children chosen at random in a maternity hospital and followed from birth for the occurrence of CMV infection. Two of the children had congenital infection and 39 were infected after birth but before the age of 6 months. Another five children were infected between the ages of 6 and 12 months, and 70 remained non-infected. The developmental assessment, based principally on the Denver Development Screening Test (DDST), included 7 items for gross motor skills, 6 items for fine motor skills, and 4 items for language development. Significantly more perinatally infected children (7/39) were delayed in speech, compared with the non-infected children (3/70). Furthermore, some items assessing fine motor development were passed better by the non-infected than the perinatally infected children, but the difference in total score was not significant. The performance of the two children with congenital CMV infection did not differ from that of the non-infected children.