"Structurno-Phunccionalniye y Neyrokhimicheskiye Zakonomernosty Asymmetrii y Plastichnosty Mozga-2006" (Materials of the Brain Institute conference), pp 192-196.

Cognitive deficit in children after the perinatal asphyxia.

Nabieva T.N.

Brain Research Department, Institute of

Neurology of Russian Academy of Medical

Sciences, 105064, per. Obukha 5, Moscow, Russia

Various groups have been addressing the question of whether perinatal asphyxia (PA) affects cognitive capacities on children. It is widely accepted that severe PA causes motor and neurological alterations and leads to a variety of brain disorders: cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation as well as psychiatric deficits. At the same time, it was established that a large percentage of children surviving PA did not demonstrate apparent sequelae, but mild physical and mental delays in future. With the purpose of disclosing further consequences of PA on child development, we examined 20 children (4-6 years old) surviving mild or moderate PA without severe neurological pathology. In most cases, we revealed muscle tone disturbances, physical development and growth retardation, as well as speech pathology in the form of dyslalia and speech delay. We discovered intact cognitive capacities in combination with limited information content. Our investigation revealed that the presence of certain psychoneurological characteristics such as hyperexcitability, irritability, timidity, aggressiveness, reduced activity, concentration and motivation are the consequences of survived birth trauma. These characteristics, producing undue fatiguability, inattention, restlessness and diminished working-capacity, can pose additional problems in education process. In the absence of individual approach, without taking into account emotional and motivational peculiarities, this category of children could not completely realize their intact cognitive capacities and represent a risk group for further mild mental retardation.