33 CONGENITAL CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (CMV) INFECTION AND INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Congenital CMV (C-CMV) infection occurs in around 1% of births and can result in a variety of CNS problems. Although symptomatic newborns usually have problems, 90% of C-CMV infected newborns are asymptomatic (ASX). Around 10% of them have hearing loss, but whether mental retardation (MR) or learning disability (LD) occur in the ASX group is not clear. We studied 18 normal hearing, school aged children with ASX C-CMV (15 black, 10 male), and 18 controls matched for age, sex, race, grade and socioeconomic status (predominantly middle class) as determined by the parents' education and occupation. Instruments included Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). LD was defined as FSIQ (WISC-R) or MPC (K-ABC) ≥ 90 and a score on any WRAT subtests or K-ABC Achievement Scale two or more years below age-appropriate. Mean IQ's (WISC-R), MPC (K-ABC), WRAT scores and frequency of LD were:Multivariate analysis revealed no differences between groups on any measures. These findings, together with the fact that all mean scores are very close to national norms suggest that the 25,000 children born in the US each year with ASX-CMV and normal hearing are unlikely to have mental impairment.