Hoe is de neuropsychologische ontwikkeling van kinderen met gastroschisis op lagere school leeftijd?

Background: Gastroschisis is a congenital malformation of the abdomen, with uncompleted closure of the abdomen. It’s necessary for these children to undergo surgery in the first days of their life. In this research we investigate the neurodevelopment of children with gastroschisis and if the treatment in the first days of their life, influence the long term neurodevelopment. Methods: The research is preformed with children in primary school (born in the period of 1999 to 2006) and who were treated in the UMCG. Several tests where used to research the neurodevelopment of these children: Like the WIsc for intelligence and the movement ABC for motor skills. Furthermore we tested the children’s attention(Teach), the visual and verbal memory(AVLT en NEPSY) and they were tested on dyslexia(DST). Using questionnaires the social skills, the behavior and the functioning of the children was tested. Results: The research group existed of 16 children of whom 9 were boy’s. The mean age of the participating children was 8,6 years(± 3). At birth the mean duration of pregnancy was 37 ±3,0 weeks and the mean birthweigth was 2409 ± 559 grams. The defect was closed in 68,8% of the cases within 24 hours and within 48 hours 87,5 % of the defects were closed. Results out of the research of the neurodevelopment, the mean IQ found of the children: verbal IQ median 95 (range 55-108), performance IQ 93,6 ± 15,8(sd) and the IQ total score median 94 (range 55-109). Normal motor skills were found in 44%, 19% has subclinical motor scores and 37% has clinical motor skills. The percentage clinical abnormal scores on the dyslexia test varied from 30 to 54,5 %. Although in the Dutch population the normal prevalence of dyslexia is 5 to 10%. Conclusion: Children born with gastroschisis have a greater chance to develop problems with their motor skills and have learning difficulties on school. When talking about learning difficulties we foremost are talking about dyslexia. Furthermore prematurity and having a complicated course in the first days seem to be negatively associated with neurodevelopmental outcomes.