Changing Patterns of Neuropsychological Functioning in Children Living at High Altitude above and below 4000 M: A Report from the Bolivian Children Living at Altitude (BoCLA) Study

Autor/inn/en	Virues-Ortega, Javier; Bucks, Romola; Kirkham, Fenella J.; Baldeweg, Torsten; Baya-Botti, Ana; Hogan, Alexandra M.
Titel	Changing Patterns of Neuropsychological Functioning in Children Living at High Altitude above and below 4000 M: A Report from the Bolivian Children Living at Altitude (BoCLA) Study
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 14 (2011) 5, S.1185-1193 (9 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1363-755X
DOI	10.1111/j.1467-7687.2011.01064.x
Schlagwörter	Environmental Influences; Metabolism; Social Class; Adolescents; Brain Hemisphere Functions; Neuropsychology; Geographic Regions; Foreign Countries; Children; Diagnostic Tests; Cognitive Processes; Neurological Impairments; Bolivia + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Environmental influence; Umwelteinfluss; Stoffwechsel; Social classes; Soziale Klasse; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Neuropsychologie; Ausland; Child; Kind; Kinder; Diagnostic test; Diagnostischer Test; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Neurodegenerative Erkrankung; Bolivien
Abstract	The brain is highly sensitive to environmental hypoxia. Little is known, however, about the neuropsychological effects of high altitude residence in the developing brain. We recently described only minor changes in processing speed in native Bolivian children and adolescents living at approximately 3700 m. However, evidence for loss of cerebral autoregulation above this altitude (4000 m) suggests a potential threshold of hypoxia severity over which neuropsychological functioning may be compromised. We conducted physiological and neuropsychological assessments in 62 Bolivian children and adolescents living at La Paz (-3700 m) and El Alto (-4100 m) in order to address this issue. Groups were equivalent in terms of age, gender, social class, schooling, parental education and genetic admixture. Apart from percentage of hemoglobin saturated with oxygen in arterial blood (%SpO[subscript 2]), participants did not differ in their basal cardiac and cerebrovascular performance as explored by heart rate, mean arterial pressure, end-tidal carbon dioxide, and cerebral blood flow velocity at the basilar, anterior, middle and posterior cerebral arteries. A comprehensive neuropsychological assessment was administered, including tests of executive functions, attention, memory and psychomotor performance. Participants living at extreme altitude showed lower levels of performance in all executive tests (Cohen effect size = -0.91), whereas all other domains remained unaffected by altitude of residence. These results are compatible with earlier physiological evidence of a transitional zone for cerebral autoregulation at an altitude of 4000 m. We now show that above this threshold, the developing brain is apparently increasingly vulnerable to neuropsychological deficit. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10