Monitoring Infant Neurodevelopment via the Hammersmith Neurological Examinations in Cambodian Infants at risk for Thiamine Deficiency
Datum
2022
Autor:innen
Dong, Katherine
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Verlag
University of Oregon
Zusammenfassung
Thiamine deficiency affects millions of infants growing up in South and Southeast Asia due to heavy cultural reliance on thiamine-poor, polished white rice as a dietary staple. Recent evidence indicates that a thiamine-deficient diet not only endangers infants’ health, but also hinders infants’ neuro-cognitive development. As part of a larger, randomized controlled trial, my thesis investigated possible benefits of maternal thiamine supplementation for protecting breastfed Cambodian infants’ neurological development. Lactating mothers were randomly assigned to four treatment groups (0, 1.2, 2.4, and 10mg daily thiamine supplement) when infants were between 2- and 24-weeks postnatal. Infants’ neurological function was measured at 2-, 12-, 24-, and 52-weeks via the Hammersmith Neurological Examination, a field-standard clinical assessment tool. As expected, infants’ Hammersmith scores improved significantly with age. However, maternal thiamine supplementation dose did not affect infants’ Hammersmith scores. Above all, this research indicates that the basic neurological functions assessed by the Hammersmith in early infancy were relatively unaffected by maternal thiamine supplementation.
Beschreibung
Schlagwörter
Thiamine, neurodevelopment, Hammersmith, infant, deficiency