Abstract
Macrocephaly has been considered an early sign in children later diagnosed with pervasive development disorders (PDD). The data nevertheless remain controversial. This study aimed to evaluate head circumference (HC) and HC growth velocity (GV) in the first 36 months in children diagnosed with PDD. We analysed HC in 11 periods in 90 children diagnosed with PDD and 198 controls using a multiple logistic regression model. We found lower HC values in the female PDD population. We found male Asperger disorder (AS) and male autistic disorder (AD) children to have higher HC values than the control male children. Differences between AD and AS were not significant. We found a higher GV in the first six months for all PDD groups compared to control children, although with statistical significance only for AD. We therefore emphasize the importance of HC in the evaluation of children suspected to have PDD, as it corresponds to an early sign and also a cheap, objective and reliable parameter.
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