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Children adopted from China: a prospective study of their growth and development.

Cohen NJ, Lojkasek M, Zadeh ZY, Pugliese M, Kiefer H

Hincks-Dellcrest Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. nancy.cohen@utoronto.ca

BACKGROUND: China has become a lead country for international adoption because of the relatively young age of the children and reported positive conditions of the orphanages. This study examined the process and outcome of growth and development of children adopted from China over their first two years with their adoptive families. METHOD: Seventy infant girls adopted from China at 8 to 21 months of age (Mean age = 13 months) were examined on arrival in Canada and 6, 12, and 24 months later. Comparisons were made with non-adopted Canadian girls of similar age and from a similar family background as adoptive parents on indices of growth and standardized measures of mental, psychomotor, and language development. RESULTS: At arrival, children adopted from China were smaller physically and exhibited developmental delays compared to current peers. Children adopted from China were functioning in the average range on physical and developmental measures within the first 6 months following adoption. However, they were not performing as well as current peers until the end of their second year after adoption. Even then, there was developmental variation in relation to comparison children and continuation of relatively smaller size with respect to height, weight, and head circumference. Physical measurement was related to outcomes at various points on all developmental measures. CONCLUSIONS: Deprivation in experience in the first year of life has more long-lasting effects on physical growth than on mental development. The variable most consistently related to development was height-to-age ratio. As a measure of nutritional status, the findings reinforce the critical importance of early nutrition.

Published 26 March 2008 in J Child Psychol Psychiatry, 49(4): 458-68.
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Articles on Intelligence published 18 March 2008:

Brain volume reductions within multiple cognitive systems in male preterm children at age twelve.   J Pediatr, 152(4): 513-20, 520.e1.

OBJECTIVES: To more precisely examine regional and subregional microstructural brain changes associated with preterm birth. STUDY DESIGN: We obtained brain volumes from 29 preterm children, age 12 years, with no ultrasound scanning evidence of intraventricular hemorrhage or cystic periventricular leukomalacia in the newborn period, and 22 age- and sex-matched term control subjects. RESULTS: Preterm male subjects demonstrated significantly lower white matter volumes in bilateral cingulum, corpus ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Intelligence published 21 February 2008:

The effect of early human diet on caudate volumes and IQ.   Pediatr Res, 63(3): 308-14.

Early nutrition in animals affects both behavior and brain structure. In humans, randomized trials show that early nutrition affects later cognition, notably in males. We hypothesized that early nutrition also influences brain structure, measurable using magnetic resonance imaging. Prior research suggested that the caudate nucleus may be especially vulnerable to early environment and that its size relates to IQ. To test the hypothesis that the caudate nucleus could be a neural substrate for ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Intelligence published 10 January 2008:

Correlation among subcortical white matter lesions, intelligence and CTG repeat expansion in classic myotonic dystrophy type 1.   Acta Neurol Scand, 117(2): 101-7.

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Articles on Intelligence published 2 January 2008:

Clinical holistic medicine: factors influencing the therapeutic decision-making. From academic knowledge to emotional intelligence and spiritual "crazy" wisdom.   ScientificWorldJournal, 7: 1932-49.

Scientific holistic medicine is built on holistic medical theory, on therapeutic and ethical principles. The rationale is that the therapist can take the patient into a state of salutogenesis, or existential healing, using his skills and knowledge. But how ever much we want to make therapy a science it remains partly an art, and the more developed the therapist becomes, the more of his/her decisions will be based on intuition, feeling and even inspiration that is more based on love and human ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

Articles on Intelligence published 17 December 2007:

The emotional intelligence of surgical residents: a descriptive study.   Am J Surg, 195(1): 5-10.

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Articles on Intelligence published 16 November 2007:

Impaired reading comprehension and mathematical abilities in male adolescents with average or above general intellectual abilities are associated with comorbid and future psychopathology.   J Nerv Ment Dis, 195(11): 883-90.

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Articles on Intelligence published 9 November 2007:

Implicit memory is independent from IQ and age but not from etiology: evidence from Down and Williams syndromes.   J Intellect Disabil Res, 51: 932-41.

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Articles on Intelligence published 26 October 2007:

Beneficial effects of breastfeeding on cognition regardless of DDT concentrations at birth.   Am J Epidemiol, 166(10): 1198-202.

The authors previously reported that intrauterine exposure to background concentrations of p,p'-dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) reduces cognitive performance among preschoolers. Breastfeeding has been associated with both increased exposure to certain pollutants during infancy and better performance on cognitive tests. Thus, the authors examined the role of breastfeeding in cognitive function among preschoolers, taking prenatal DDT exposure into account. Two birth cohorts in Spain (Ribera ... [Abstract] [Full-text]

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