Skip to main content
PMC home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 1997 Mar;76(3):264–267. doi: 10.1136/adc.76.3.264

Fragile X, iron, and neurodevelopmental screening in 8 year old children with mild to moderate learning difficulties

N Corrigan 1, M Stewart 1, M Scott 1, F Fee 1
PMCID: PMC1717111  PMID: 9135270

Abstract

Accepted 19 November 1996


OBJECTIVE—To examine the value of neurodevelopmental examination, fragile X testing, iron studies, and other screening procedures in children with mild to moderate learning difficulties.
DESIGN—A cross sectional case-control study.
SUBJECTS—A 34% random sample (n = 130) of children with mild to moderate learning difficulties born between 01/07/83 and 30/06/84 and resident in North and West Belfast. Controls were 130 children without learning difficulties matched for age and geographical area.
RESULTS—The prevalence of mild to moderate learning difficulties in North and West Belfast was 16%; 115 (89%) of the learning difficulties group and 80 (58%) of the control group consented to participate. Children in the learning difficulties group scored significantly lower in neurodevelopmental testing and were more likely to fail their audiometry assessment than controls. Children in the learning difficulties group were also more likely to be anaemic and had lower serum iron and transferrin saturation than controls. No cases of fragile X were identified. Thyroid function tests and urinary amino acids were all within normal limits There were no significant differences in anthropometry, head circumference, or formal neurological examinations.
CONCLUSIONS—Children with learning difficulties are more likely to be neurodevelopmentally immature and iron depleted than controls. Iron depletion should be aggressively sought and treated. The role for routine assessment for fragile X, thyroid function tests, and amino acid chromatography is doubtful.



Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (87.5 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Addy D. P. Happiness is: iron. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed) 1986 Apr 12;292(6526):969–970. doi: 10.1136/bmj.292.6526.969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Aukett M. A., Parks Y. A., Scott P. H., Wharton B. A. Treatment with iron increases weight gain and psychomotor development. Arch Dis Child. 1986 Sep;61(9):849–857. doi: 10.1136/adc.61.9.849. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Corrigan N., Stewart M., Scott M., Fee F. Predictive value of preschool surveillance in detecting learning difficulties. Arch Dis Child. 1996 Jun;74(6):517–521. doi: 10.1136/adc.74.6.517. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dallman P. R. Biochemical basis for the manifestations of iron deficiency. Annu Rev Nutr. 1986;6:13–40. doi: 10.1146/annurev.nu.06.070186.000305. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dallman P. R., Siimes M. A. Percentile curves for hemoglobin and red cell volume in infancy and childhood. J Pediatr. 1979 Jan;94(1):26–31. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(79)80344-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hagerman R. J., Jackson C., Amiri K., Silverman A. C., O'Connor R., Sobesky W. Girls with fragile X syndrome: physical and neurocognitive status and outcome. Pediatrics. 1992 Mar;89(3):395–400. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hulme C., Biggerstaff A., Moran G., McKinlay I. Visual, kinaesthetic and cross-modal judgements of length by normal and clumsy children. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1982 Aug;24(4):461–471. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1982.tb13650.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Nader P. R., Ray L., Brink S. The new morbidity: use of school and community health care resources for behavioral, educational, and social-family problems. Pediatrics. 1981 Jan;67(1):53–60. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Oski F. A., Honig A. S., Helu B., Howanitz P. Effect of iron therapy on behavior performance in nonanemic, iron-deficient infants. Pediatrics. 1983 Jun;71(6):877–880. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Peters J. E., Romine J. S., Dykman R. A. A special neurological examination of children with learning disabilities. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1975 Feb;17(1):63–78. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1975.tb04959.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Robert J. E., Burchinal M. R., Medley L. P., Zeisel S. A., Mundy M., Roush J., Hooper S., Bryant D., Henderson F. W. Otitis media, hearing sensitivity, and maternal responsiveness in relation to language during infancy. J Pediatr. 1995 Mar;126(3):481–489. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(95)70476-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Slaney S. F., Wilkie A. O., Hirst M. C., Charlton R., McKinley M., Pointon J., Christodoulou Z., Huson S. M., Davies K. E. DNA testing for fragile X syndrome in schools for learning difficulties. Arch Dis Child. 1995 Jan;72(1):33–37. doi: 10.1136/adc.72.1.33. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Teele D. W., Klein J. O., Chase C., Menyuk P., Rosner B. A. Otitis media in infancy and intellectual ability, school achievement, speech, and language at age 7 years. Greater Boston Otitis Media Study Group. J Infect Dis. 1990 Sep;162(3):685–694. doi: 10.1093/infdis/162.3.685. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Webster A., Bamford J. M., Thyer N. J., Ayles R. The psychological, educational and auditory sequelae of early, persistent secretory otitis media. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 1989 Jul;30(4):529–546. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1989.tb00266.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Younes R. P., Rosner B., Webb G. Neuroimmaturity of learning-disabled children: a controlled study. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1983 Oct;25(5):574–579. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8749.1983.tb13813.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES