Affiliations: Department of Psychology, Calvin College, Grand
Rapids, MI, USA | Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences,
University of Chicago Medical School, Chicago, IL, USA | Department of Neurosurgery, University of Chicago
Medical School, Chicago, IL, USA
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Maureen Lacy, Ph.D., University of Chicago
Medical Center, 5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 3077, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. Tel.:
+1 773 834 3930; Fax: +1 773 702 6454; E-mail: mlacy@yoda.bsd.uchicago.edu
Abstract: Neuropsychiatric disease is often prevalent in white matter
disorders. Hydrocephalus, for example, causes a disruption of white matter
pathways. While research has shown that emotional and behavioral problems are
prevalent in myelomeningocele (MMC) associated hydrocephalus, it is less clear
if this is true in hydrocephalus due to other etiologies. The present study
compared 30 children with early onset communicating shunted hydrocephalus with
18 healthy controls (age range 6–16 years) with regard to parent rated
behavior and emotional functioning, controlling for intelligence quotient
differences between groups. Results indicated that children with communicating
hydrocephalus have a higher incidence of clinically significant reported
behavioral/emotional difficulties (30%) compared with controls (11%).
Internalizing problems were significantly more common in patients compared to
controls. These findings underscore the importance of monitoring behavioral and
emotional adjustment in children with hydrocephalus and intervening as
appropriate. In addition, these observations show that MMC children with
hydrocephalus and congenital hydrocephalus patients have similar emotional
difficulties implying that it is hydrocephalus and not other MMC-associated
brain anomalies that affect emotional outcome.
