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Mining Association Rules for Neurobehavioral and Motor Disorders in Children Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy
Chihwen Cheng1, T G Burns2, May D Wang3
1Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332.
Insights
Children with cerebral palsy (CP) face high risks for neurobehavioral and motor disorders. This study identified 22 rules linking factors like executive dysfunction to predict these negative outcomes in pediatric CP patients.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Pediatrics
- Developmental Psychology
Background:
- Children with cerebral palsy (CP) exhibit high rates of neurobehavioral and motor disorders.
- Common issues include impaired visual-perception, motor planning, and executive functions, potentially leading to emotional difficulties like depression.
- Age and IQ influence cognitive and emotional impairments in pediatric CP.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate associations between various factors and neurobehavioral/motor disorders in pediatric CP.
- To identify predictive rules for cognitive impairment and emotional abnormality in children with CP.
- To analyze the link between executive dysfunction and neurobehavioral problems in CP.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a clinical database of pediatric subjects diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
- Employed association rule mining to identify predictive factors and their interactions.
- Analyzed relationships between age, IQ, and neurobehavioral/motor outcomes.
Main Results:
- Developed 22 rules capable of predicting negative neurobehavioral and motor outcomes in pediatric CP.
- Confirmed a link between CP, executive dysfunction, and subsequent neurobehavioral problems.
- Identified both single factors and factor combinations contributing to these outcomes.
Conclusions:
- The study provides predictive rules for adverse outcomes in pediatric cerebral palsy.
- Findings support the connection between executive dysfunction and neurobehavioral issues in CP.
- Further research should incorporate treatment and medication history for a comprehensive understanding.
Abstract:
Children diagnosed with cerebral palsy (CP) appear to be at high risk for developing neurobehavioral and motor disorders. The most common disorders for these children are impaired visual-perception skills and motor planning. Besides, they often have impaired executive functions, which can contribute to problematic emotional adjustment such as depression. Additionally, literature suggests that the tendency to develop these cognitive impairments and emotional abnormalities in pediatric CP is influenced by age and IQ. Because there are many other medical co-morbidities that can occur with CP (e.g., seizures and shunt placement), prediction of what percentages of patients will incur cognitive impairment and emotional abnormality is a difficult task. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between possible factors mentioned above, and neurobehavioral and motor disorders from a clinical database of pediatric subjects diagnosed with CP. The study resulted in 22 rules that can predict negative outcomes. These rules reinforced the growing body of literature supporting a link between CP, executive dysfunction, and subsequent neurobehavioral problems. The antecedents and consequents of some association rules were single factors, while other statistical associations were interactions of factor combinations. Further research is needed to include children's comprehensive treatment and medication history in order to determine additional impacts on their neurobehavioral and motor disorders.