NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL SEQUELAE OF H INFLUENZAE MENINGITIS

神经心理学方法在远期研究中的应用 儿童神经系统疾病的后果代表了一种新的， 行为医学的一个很有前途的进展 建议的目的 调查是将这些方法应用于发病率的研究 与b型流感嗜血杆菌（Hib）脑膜炎相关。 虽然 发病率可影响多达50%的这种疾病的幸存者， 发病率尚未使用人口抽样技术进行研究 神经心理学技能的全面评估，学术 成就，行为和社会因素。 的可能性 后遗症可能会有所不同，根据多大的孩子是在测试时 也被忽略了。 如果没有更全面的研究， 结果后脑膜炎，这将是很难衡量的全面 这一公共卫生问题的影响，以作出未来的决定， 关于预防性免疫接种，或者发现更多关于预后的信息， 医学和社会因素。 为了解决这个问题，我们将比较三个基于年龄的队列， 脑膜炎后儿童向其兄弟姐妹提供的 神经心理学技能、智力、学术成就，以及 行为适应功能 听力将被筛选， 未能通过筛选的儿童将接受听力检查。 父母的医疗记录和病史将提供以下信息： 神经系统后遗症和健康状况。 为了前瞻性研究结局， 脑膜炎后儿童将连续三年接受评估。 关于急性期疾病以及社会和家庭变量的信息 将被收集，以确定因素，使儿童在最大的 后遗症风险。 待检验的假设如下：（1）患有Hib的儿童 脑膜炎在测试中表现不太好， 与兄弟姐妹相比，家庭和学校的问题。 (2)医疗和 社会变量将预测后遗症。 (3)后遗症将 随着年龄的增长而增加， 脑膜炎后儿童的发病率高于较年轻的队列。

Application of neuropsychological methods in research on the long-term consequences of childhood neurological diseases represents a new and promising advance in behavioral medicine. The purpose of the proposed investigation is to apply these methods to the study of the morbidity associated with Haemophilus influenzae type-b (Hib) meningitis. Although morbidity may affect as many as 50% of the survivors of this disease, morbidity has not as yet been studied using population samplying techniques and comprehensive assessments of neuropsychological skills, academic achievement, and behavioral and social factors. The possibility that sequelae may vary according to how old the child is at the time of testing has also been ignored. Without more complete study of developmental outcomes post-meningitis, it will be difficult to gauge the full implications of this public health problem, to make future decisions regarding preventative immunizations, or to discover more about prognostic medical and social factors. To address this issue, we will compare three age-based cohorts of post-meningitis children to their siblings on measures of neuropsychological skill, intelligence, academic achievement, and behavioral-adaptational functioning. Hearing will be screened and those children who fail screening will be given audiological examinations. Medical records and histories from parents will provide information on neurological sequelae and health status. To study outcome prospectively, the post-meningitis children will be evaluated for three successive years. Information on the acute-phase illness and on social and family variables will be collected to determine the factors that place children at greatest risk for sequelae. Hypotheses to be tested are as follows: (1) Children who have had Hib meningitis will perform less well on testing and will show more frequent problems at home and school compared to their siblings. (2) Medical and social variables will be predictive of sequelae. (3) Sequelae will increase with age and will be more frequent among older cohorts of post-meningitis children than among younger cohorts.