Original articleChildhood neglect is associated with reduced corpus callosum area
Section snippets
Methods and materials
Medical records were reviewed for 115 consecutive pediatric patients admitted to McLean Hospital between June 1988 and May 1989. Patients were eliminated for possible preexisting neurologic abnormalities, including loss of consciousness, perinatal complications, in utero exposure to alcohol or drugs of abuse, and physical illness that could affect growth or development (e.g., cancer or steroid-dependent asthma). A total of 51 subjects (26 male, 25 female) admitted for psychiatric evaluation (28
Results
There were no significant differences between the NIMH and McLean scanners in the assessment of regional CC area in the healthy control subjects (MANCOVA Wilks F = 1.27, S = 1, M = 2.5, n = 51, p = .27). Total adjusted CC area (SYSTAT, Evanston, Illinois) for the healthy control subjects was 614 ± 89 mm2 for the NIMH scanner and 627 ± 95 mm2 for the McLean scanner, a nonsignificant 2% difference [F(1,110) = .30, p > .5]. Age (r = .724, p = .02) and midsagittal area (r = .848, p = .001) were
Discussion
In the present study, early traumatic experience rather than psychiatric illness was associated with decreased CC size. When factors that exerted the greatest effect on the size of the CC were analyzed, neglect had the greatest influence in boys relative to physical abuse, sexual abuse, or PTSD. Neglect in boys was associated with a marked decrease in the size of regions 3, 4, 5, and 7. Neglect was associated with far less effect in girls and was limited to the most posterior aspects of the CC.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by RO1 MH-53636 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to MHT, with additional support from NIMH Grant RO1 MH-66222 and RO1DA-016934 from the National Institute of Drug Abuse. This work was presented previously at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, November 4–9, 2000, New Orleans, Louisiana.
We thank Carol A. Glod R.N., C.S., Ph.D. for her evaluation of the clinical records.
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