Behavioral outcome in children with a history of neonatal encephalopathy following perinatal asphyxia.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effects of mild and moderate neonatal encephalopathy (NE) on behavioral functioning, and prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses at 9-10 years.

METHODS

The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher's Report Form (TRF), Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children IV (DISC-IV), and the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ) were used to assess behavioral outcome of 34 children with mild NE, 47 children with moderate NE, and 53 typically developing controls.

RESULTS

Both children with mild and moderate NE showed more problematic behaviors than controls, which are related to a diversity of behavioral domains: elevated rates of social problems, anxiety and depression, attention regulation problems, and thought problems. No group differences were found in percentages of children with a DISC-IV (DSM-IV) classification.

CONCLUSIONS

NE has a mildly negative effect on behavioral functioning, but does not lead to elevated levels or specific patterns of developmental psychopathology.