Early and middle childhood developmental, cognitive, and psychiatric outcomes of Malawian children affected by retinopathy positive cerebral malaria

ABSTRACTThe objective is to determine the short -and long-term developmental, cognitive, and psychiatric effects of retinopathy positive cerebral malaria (CM-R) among young children in a prospective study assessing them around the onset of disease and again 2 years at preschool and again at school age.In total, 109 children were recruited from the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi, (N = 49) with CM-R and non-malaria controls  (N = 60). Children were assessed for overall motor, language, and social skills using the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) at preschool age. At school age, the same children were then given the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, second edition (KABC-II), which assessed global cognitive performancememory, and learning; as well as the Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA), which assessed attention. The Achenbach Child Development Checklist (CBCL) was administered at both time points to assess emotional and behavioral patterns.Controls scored signific...