• Login
    View Item 
    •   NRU
    • Journal Publications
    • Medical and Health Sciences
    • Medical and Health Sciences
    • View Item
    •   NRU
    • Journal Publications
    • Medical and Health Sciences
    • Medical and Health Sciences
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Cognition, Behaviour And Academic Skills After Cognitive Rehabilitation In Ugandan Children Surviving Severe Malaria: A Randomised Trial

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Cognition, Behaviour And Academic Skills After Cognitive Rehabilitation In Ugandan Children Surviving Severe Malaria: A Randomised Trial (373.1Kb)
    Date
    2011
    Author
    Bangirana, Paul
    Allebeck, Peter
    Boivin, Michael J.
    John, Chandy C.
    Page, Connie
    Ehnvall, Anna
    Musisi, Seggane
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    Infection with severe malaria in African children is associated with not only a high mortality but also a high risk of cognitive deficits. There is evidence that interventions done a few years after the illness are effective but nothing is known about those done immediately after the illness. We designed a study in which children who had suffered from severe malaria three months earlier were enrolled into a cognitive intervention program and assessed for the immediate benefit in cognitive, academic and behavioral outcomes.This parallel group randomised study was carried out in Kampala City, Uganda between February 2008 and October 2010. Sixty-one Ugandan children aged 5 to 12 years with severe malaria were assessed for cognition (using the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, second edition and the Test of Variables of Attention), academic skills (Wide Range Achievement Test, third edition) and psychopathologic behaviour (Child Behaviour Checklist) three months after an episode of severe malaria. Twenty-eight were randomised to sixteen sessions of computerised cognitive rehabilitation training lasting eight weeks and 33 to a non-treatment group. Post-intervention assessments were done a month after conclusion of the intervention. Analysis of covariance was used to detect any differences between the two groups after post-intervention assessment, adjusting for age, sex, weight for age z score, quality of the home environment, time between admission and post-intervention testing and pre-intervention score. The primary outcome was improvement in attention scores for the intervention group. This trial is registered with Current Controlled Trials, number ISRCTN53183087.Significant intervention effects were observed in the intervention group for learning mean score (SE), [93.89 (4.00) vs 106.38 (4.32), P = 0.04] but for working memory the intervention group performed poorly [27.42 (0.66) vs 25.34 (0.73), P = 0.04]. No effect was observed in the other cognitive outcomes or in any of the academic or behavioural measures.In this pilot study, our computerised cognitive training program three months after severe malaria had an immediate effect on cognitive outcomes but did not affect academic skills or behaviour. Larger trials with follow-up after a few years are needed to investigate whether the observed benefits are sustained.
    URI
    https://nru.uncst.go.ug/xmlui/handle/123456789/2006
    Collections
    • Medical and Health Sciences [3670]

    Research Dissemination Platform copyright © since 2021  UNCST
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Partners
     

     

    Browse

    All of NRU
    Communities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects
    This Collection
    By Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Research Dissemination Platform copyright © since 2021  UNCST
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    Partners