Visuospatial Abilities in Children Operated Upon for Myelomeningocele

Abstract

Background: Myelomeningocele is a complex congenital spinal abnormality. Patients with myelomeningocele present with a spectrum of impairments, with cognitive dysfunctions being one of them. Nonverbal learning disability (NLD) is an aspect of learning abnormality in which the verbal-related contexts and intelligence quotient are spared. Visuospatial disabilities, a distinctive series of NLD, are proposed to be prominent in children with myelomeningocele; however, enough supporting data are lacking. This study aimed at evaluating the visuospatial abilities of children operated upon for myelomeningocele. Materials and Methods: In a case-control setting, we evaluated 15 children operated upon for myelomeningocele in Emam-Reza Hospital of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences during a 14-month period. Fifteen age-matched and sex-matched healthy children were included as controls. The parents of the children were interviewed using the visuospatial skills section of the NLD questionnaire. The rate of NLD (visuospatial disability) was determined for both groups and compared. A scoring system was designed for the questionnaire (the higher the score, the more tendency to have visuospatial disability) and the mean scores were also compared between the 2 groups. Results: Fifteen patients, 11 boys and 4 girls with a mean age of 4.47 + 0.52 (3.5 to 5) years, and 15 controls, 8 boys and 7 girls with a mean age of 4.23 +/- 0.62 (3 to 5) years, were enrolled (P = 0.256 and 0.274, respectively). There were 2 (13.3%) patients with NLD in the case group, with no NLD case in the control counterparts (P = 0.483). The mean score of the NLD questionnaire was significantly higher in children operated upon for myelomeningocele compared with the control group (2.00 +/- 1.13 vs. 1.07 +/- 0.79; P = 0.015); that is, the trend of the mean score was significantly high toward the presence of NLD in the case group. Conclusions: The current study showed that the rate of NLD was not higher in patients operated upon for myelomeningocele; however, the score was significantly in favor of this condition. This may be due to the small sample size recruited; therefore, further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended.