Precursors of executive function in infants with sickle cell anemia

Hogan, Alexandra M., Telfer, Paul T., Kirkham, Fenella J. and Haan, Michelle De (2013) Precursors of executive function in infants with sickle cell anemia. Journal of Child Neurology, 28 (10), 1197-1202. (doi:10.1177/0883073812453495).

Abstract

Executive dysfunction occurs in sickle cell anemia, but there are few early data. Infants with sickle cell anemia (n = 14) and controls (n = 14) performed the "A-not-B" and Object Retrieval search tasks, measuring precursors of executive function at 9 and 12 months. Significant group differences were not found. However, for the A-not-B task, 7 of 11 sickle cell anemia infants scored in the lower 2 performance categories at 9 months, but only 1 at 12 months (P =.024); controls obtained scores at 12 months that were statistically comparable to the scores they had already obtained at 9 months. On the Object Retrieval task, 9- and 12-month controls showed comparable scores, whereas infants with sickle cell anemia continued to improve (P =.027); at 9 months, those with lower hemoglobin oxygen saturation passed fewer trials (Rs = 0.670, P =.024) and took longer to obtain the toy (Rs = -0.664, P =.013). Subtle delays in acquiring developmental skills may underlie abnormal executive function in childhood.

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Contributors

Author: Fenella J. Kirkham

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