Are Weight Status and Cognition Associated? An Examination of Cognitive Development in Children and Adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa 1 Year after First Hospitalisation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to characterise the association between the cognitive profile and weight restoration in children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa. METHODS: The study was a longitudinal, matched case-control, multicentre study. An assessment of cognitive functions was conducted by using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III/the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, the Test of Memory and Learning-second edition, Trail Making Tests A and B, the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. RESULTS: One hundred twenty individuals, 60 patients with anorexia nervosa with mean age of 14.65 (SD 1.820) years and 60 healthy controls with mean age of 14.76 (SD 1.704) years, participated. No association was found between weight recovery and cognitive functions. However, a significant increase in motor speed was found in Trail Making Test A (p = 0.004), Reaction Time (RTI) five-choice movement time (p = 0.002) and RTI simple movement time (p = 0.011), resulting in a normalisation corresponding to that found in healthy controls. Furthermore, a significantly lower score in the perceptual organization index (p = 0.029) was found at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Weight recovery appears not to be associated with cognition. Copyright © 2016 The Authors European Eating Disorders Review published by Eating Disorders Association and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cognitive profile of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa.

OBJECTIVE: Few studies of cognitive functioning in children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) have been conducted. The aim of this study was to examine the neurocognitive and intelligence profile of this clinical group. METHOD: The study was a matched case-control (N = 188), multi-centre study including children and adolescents with AN (N = 94) and healthy control participants (N = 94). RESULTS: The results suggest that Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III/Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III) in this patient group is close to the normal population mean of 100. Individuals with AN exhibited significantly worse performance in nonverbal intelligence functions (i.e. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III/Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, Perceptual Organization Index) and in verbal memory (Test of Memory and Learning-Second Edition, Memory for Stories) and motor speed (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, Simple and Choice Reaction Time) compared with healthy control participants. No significant difference in set-shifting ability (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery, Intra-Extra Dimensional Set Shift and Trail Making Test B) was found. CONCLUSIONS: Inefficiency in nonverbal intelligence functions and in specific cognitive functions was found in this study of children and adolescents with AN.

Can a general health surveillance between birth and 10 months identify children with mental disorder at 1(1/2) year? A case-control study nested in cohort CCC 2000.

UNLABELLED: Mental health surveillance in infancy was studied in an existing child health surveillance programme with child psychiatric disorder at 1(1/2) year as the outcome. METHODS: Children considered of concern by community health nurses were cases in a case control study nested in the Copenhagen Child Cohort (CCC 2000). Outcome was mental health status at 1(1/2) year assessed by clinical and standardised strategies, including videotape recordings, parent interviews and the instruments: CBCL 1(1/2)-5, ITSCL, CHAT, Bayley Scales of Infant Development II, PC ERA and PIR-GAS. RESULTS: The positive predictive value of concern in the first 10 months of living was 24% (CI 17.0-31.9), the negative predictive value was 85% (CI 77.9-89.6) and the sensitivity was 56% (CI 42.4-69.0). Concern about development was significantly associated with the child having a neuro-developmental disorder at 1(1/2) year, and concern about mother-child relationship was associated with emotional, behavioural, eating, and sleeping disturbances. CONCLUSIONS: A general health surveillance program seems to have potentials to identify infants at risk for mental health problems provided standardised measures and specific training of the involved health professionals.

[Markers of mental health problems based on public health nurses' assessments of 0- to 1-year-old children: the Copenhagen County Child Cohort 2000]. / Markører for psykiske helbredsproblemer ved sundhedsplejerskernes undersøgelser af 0-1-årige børn. Copenhagen County Child Cohort 2000.

INTRODUCTION: Epidemiological studies of psychopathology in the first years of life are few, and the associations between mental health problems in infancy and toddler age and mental health disturbances later in life have not been systematically investigated. This study aimed to investigate whether markers of mental health problems can be identified in the first years of life and thus increase the scientific foundation for prevention early in childhood. METHODS: The population studied was a birth cohort of children born in Copenhagen County in year 2000, the Copenhagen County Child Cohort 2000 (CCCC 2000), which has been followed prospectively from birth. Mental and physical health are described at baseline based on Danish national registers and standardised records from home visits made by public health nurses. RESULTS: CCCC 2000 covers 6,090 children, of whom 5,624 (92%) have been described in health reports by public health nurses. In 13% of the cohort children, the general development was recorded as not normal, and in 12% language development was deviant. Problems with eating and sleeping were found frequently, in 30% and 20% of the children, respectively, and in 10% of the cases disturbances in the mother-child relationship were recorded. CONCLUSION: The first results from CCCC 2000 show that risk factors and markers of mental disturbances can be identified in at least 10% of children in the general population. The validity of these results is currently being investigated in follow-up studies of CCCC 2000.

The prevalence of mental health problems in children 1(1/2) years of age - the Copenhagen Child Cohort 2000.

BACKGROUND: The Copenhagen Child Cohort, CCC 2000, was established to investigate developmental psychopathology prospectively from birth in a general population. METHODS: A random sample of 211 children from the CCC 2000 was investigated when the children were 1(1/2) years of age. The prevalence and associates of mental health problems and psychopathology were studied by clinical and standardised strategies, including videotape recordings, parent interviews and the following instruments: The Child Behavior Check List 1(1/2)-5 (CBCL 1(1/2)-5), The Infant Toddler Symptom Check List (ITSCL), Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (CHAT), Bayley Scales of Infant Development II (BSID II), The Parent Child Early Relationship Assessment (PC ERA) and Parent Infant Relationship Global Assessment Scale (PIR-GAS). RESULTS: Mental health problems according to International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and Diagnostic Classification Zero to Three (DC 0-3) diagnoses were found in 16-18% of 1(1/2)-year-old children. Most common were disturbances of emotion, behaviour and eating and the DC 0-3 diagnosis of regulatory disorder. Parent-child relationship disturbances were found in 8%. High psychosocial risk was significantly associated with emotional and behavioural disorders (OR 3.1 95% (1.2-8.1)) and disturbed parent-child relationship (OR 5.0 95% (1.6-16.0)). The strongest association of risk was found between relationship disorders and emotional and behavioural disorders (OR 11.6 95% (3.8-37.5)). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence and distribution of psychopathology in 1(1/2)-year-old children seem to correspond to the distributions among older children. Disturbances in parent-child relationship have a key position in the risk mechanisms in early child psychopathology.

The Copenhagen County child cohort: design of a longitudinal study of child mental health.

BACKGROUND: Epidemiological studies of psychopathology in the first years of life are few, and the association between mental health problems in infancy and psychiatric disturbances later in life has not been systematically investigated. The aim of the present project was to study mental health problems and possibilities of intervention from infancy and onward. METHODS: The basic study population consists of a birth cohort of 6,090 children born in the year 2000 in the County of Copenhagen, the Copenhagen County Child Cohort, CCCC 2000. At stage one CCCC 2000 was established on data from the Civil Registration System, Danish national registers, and standardized, longitudinal data from the first year of living obtained by public health nurses. At stage two a subsample was assessed at 1(1/2) years of age concerning child psychiatric illness and associated factors in a case-control study nested in the cohort, including a random sample. Participation rate at stage one was 92%. PERSPECTIVES: Ongoing studies of CCCC 2000 include studies of failure to thrive, register studies, and studies of the predictive validity of public health screening. A follow-up study concerning the prevalence of psychopathology at age 5 is planned. SUMMARY: The Copenhagen County Child Cohort CCCC 2000 is a longitudinal study of mental health from infancy investigating psychopathology in early childhood. Results from this study will add to the knowledge of risk factors and course of mental health problems in childhood and contribute to the validation of the mental health screening made by public health nurses.