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Seeking Biomarkers of Early Childhood Malnutrition's Long-term Effects
Pedro A Valdés-Sosa1, Janina R Galler, Cyralene P Bryce
1Cuban Neuroscience Center, Havana, Cuba. pedro.valdes@neuroinformatics-collaboratory.org.
Insights
Protein-energy malnutrition in early childhood causes lasting neurodevelopmental issues. New research identified early electroencephalography (EEG) biomarkers to detect these effects, aiding timely interventions.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Public Health
- Developmental Pediatrics
Background:
- Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) affects millions globally, particularly young children in low-income nations.
- Early childhood PEM leads to lifelong cognitive, neurological, and mental health challenges, impacting subsequent generations.
- A long-term collaboration between the Barbados Nutrition Study and the Cuban Neuroscience Center leverages extensive historical data and innovative low-cost brain imaging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify early electroencephalography (EEG) biomarkers indicative of long-term neurodevelopmental effects resulting from early childhood protein-energy malnutrition.
- To analyze previously unexamined EEG data from a 1977-78 cohort to find differences between malnourished and control children.
- To establish a foundation for future longitudinal EEG studies tracking the effects of early malnutrition over 40 years.
Main Methods:
- Quantitative electroencephalography (EEG) techniques were applied to historical EEG records from 1977-78.
- EEG data from participants aged 5-11 years, including those with a history of early protein-energy malnutrition and healthy controls, were analyzed.
- The analysis compared EEG findings between the malnourished and control groups to identify potential biomarkers.
Main Results:
- The study successfully identified early electroencephalography (EEG) biomarkers associated with the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of early childhood protein-energy malnutrition.
- Analysis of the 1977-78 EEG data revealed distinct patterns between previously malnourished children and their healthy peers.
- These findings validate the use of quantitative EEG as a tool for early detection.
Conclusions:
- Quantitative EEG biomarkers can effectively identify children at high risk for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes due to early malnutrition.
- These biomarkers can inform the development of targeted interventions to mitigate the lifelong impacts of early childhood malnutrition in developing countries.
- Future research will involve longitudinal EEG recordings in the same cohort to track changes over 40 years and correlate with cognitive outcomes.
Abstract:
Protein-energy malnutrition affects one in nine people worldwide and is most prevalent among children aged less than five years in low-income countries. Early childhood malnutrition can have damaging neurodevelopmental effects, with significant increases in cognitive, neurological and mental health problems over the lifespan, outcomes which can also extend to the next generation. This article describes a research collaboration involving scientists from five centers in Barbados, China, Cuba and the USA. It builds on longer-term joint work between the Barbados Nutrition Study (which, over a 45-year span, has extensively documented nutritional, health, behavioral, social and economic outcomes of individuals who experienced protein-energy malnutrition in the first year of life and healthy controls from the same classrooms and neighborhoods) and the Cuban Neuroscience Center (which has developed low-cost brain imaging methods that can be readily used in low income settings to identify biomarkers for early detection and treatment of adverse consequences of childhood malnutrition). This collaboration, which involved Barbadian, Cuban and US scientists began in the 1970s, when quantitative EEG techniques were applied to EEG data collected in 1977-78, at which time study participants were aged 5-11 years. These EEG records were never fully analyzed but were stored in New York and made available to this project in 2016. These data have now been processed and analyzed, comparing EEG findings in previously malnourished and control children, and have led to the identification of early biomarkers of long-term effects of early childhood protein-energy malnutrition. The next stage of the project will involve extending earlier work by collecting EEG recordings in the same individuals at ages 45-51 years, 40 years later, and comparing findings to earlier data and to these individuals' behavioral and cognitive outcomes. Quantitative EEG biomarkers of the effects of protein-energy malnutrition may help identify children at greatest risk for early malnutrition's adverse neurodevelopmental effects and inform development of targeted interventions to mitigate the long-term adverse effects of protein-energy malnutrition in developing countries. KEYWORDS Protein-energy malnutrition, electroencephalography, EEG, biomarkers, neurosciences, Barbados, Cuba, USA.