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Parent ratings of executive functioning in children with shunted hydrocephalus
Maureen Lacy1, Megan Baldassarre, Todd Nader
1Sections of Neuropsychology and Neurosurgery, Departments of Psychiatry and Surgery, The University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Ill., USA.
Insights
Children with shunted hydrocephalus show significant executive dysfunction, impacting areas like working memory and self-monitoring. These challenges, as reported by parents, may worsen with age.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Hydrocephalus is a condition characterized by excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.
- Shunt placement is a common treatment for hydrocephalus, but can be associated with cognitive challenges.
- Executive functioning is crucial for daily life and academic success.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess executive functioning in children with a history of shunted hydrocephalus.
- To compare executive functioning in shunted hydrocephalus patients with healthy peers.
- To investigate the correlation between objective executive functioning measures and parent-reported executive functioning.
Main Methods:
- Executive functioning was evaluated in 39 children with shunted hydrocephalus and 20 healthy controls.
- Parents completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) for their children.
- Correlations between cognitive tests and BRIEF ratings were analyzed.
Main Results:
- Children with shunted hydrocephalus exhibited greater executive dysfunction compared to controls.
- Parent ratings indicated more executive dysfunction in the hydrocephalus group, particularly in working memory, initiation, mental flexibility, and self-monitoring.
- Executive difficulties appeared to increase with age in the shunted hydrocephalus group.
- While not all parent ratings correlated with cognitive tasks, mental flexibility tests showed sensitivity to parent-observed issues.
Conclusions:
- Children with shunted hydrocephalus demonstrate executive functioning deficits on formal assessments.
- Parents consistently report ongoing executive difficulties in these children, which may escalate with age.
Objectives:
The present study examined the executive functioning of a group of children with a history of communicating hydrocephalus and how their level of functioning was correlated with parent ratings of executive functioning.
Methods:
The study examined the executive functioning of 39 shunted children with a history of hydrocephalus and 20 healthy peers. Additionally, parents of both groups of children completed the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) to assess the parents' perceptions of their children's executive functioning. Finally, the study investigated the relationship between the shunted hydrocephalus children's executive functioning and the parent ratings of their executive functioning.
Results:
Overall, the children with a history of shunted hydrocephalus displayed more executive dysfunction than their healthy peers. These children were rated by their parents as having more executive dysfunction than their healthy peers and displaying working memory, initiation, mental flexibility and self-monitoring difficulties, which appear to increase with age among the shunted hydrocephalus group. While parent ratings as measured by the BRIEF indices did not correlate with all executive tasks within the shunted hydrocephalus group, the cognitive tests assessing mental flexibility may be sensitive to the problems noted by parents at home.
Conclusions:
The children with a history of shunted hydrocephalus displayed executive functioning deficits on formal examination. The parents of children with a history of shunted hydrocephalus report ongoing executive difficulties which may increase with age.
