Journal of Genetic Medicine

Korean Society of Medical Genetics and Genomics (대한의학유전학회)
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Cognitive Profile of Children with Williams Syndrome: Comparison with Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome and Down Syndrome

  • Yim, Shin-Young (Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Ajou University School of Medicine) ;
  • Cho, Kye-Hee (Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine Seoul National University Bundang Hospital) ;
  • Kim, Hyon-J. (Department of Medical Genetics, Ajou University School of Medicine)
  • Received : 2010.05.20
  • Accepted : 2010.06.25
  • Published : 2010.03.01
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Abstract

Purpose: The objectives were to examine following 2 questions related to cognitive profile for the children with Williams syndrome (WS); 1) Is there a significant advantage for verbal IQ over performance IQ in WS?; 2) Is there selective impairment in visuospatial ability in the children with WS? Materials and Methods: Five children with WS with the age of $90.86{\pm}20.73$ months were compared with 12 children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) or Down syndrome (DS) with comparable age and IQ. Results: All 5 children with WS showed intellectual disability whose mean scaled scores were $15.71{\pm}9.27$ in verbal subtests and $14.29{\pm}7.50$ in performance subtests, which did not show significant difference. There was no significant difference in the total sum of scaled scores of verbal subtests among WS, PWS and DS. There was no selective impairment in subtests which represented visuospatial tasks for the children with WS. However, the scaled score of object assembly was significantly lower in WS ($2.29{\pm}0.95$) compared to that of PWS ($4.75{\pm}2.77$; P <0.05). Conclusion: The general notion that the children with WS would be relatively strong in verbal function when compared with their overall cognitive function was not observed in this study. The verbal function of the children with WS was not better when compared to the children with DS or PWS. There was no selective impairment of visuospatial function in the children with WS at this age. However, the visuospatial function was significantly low in the children with WS only when compared to the children with PWS.

목 적: 윌리암스증후군 아동의 인지와 관련된 두 가지 특성을 검증하고자 하였다; 윌리암스증후군 아동은 언어성 지능이 동작성 지능 보다 유의하게 높다; 윌리암스증후군 아동은 시공간기능의 선택적 저하를 보인다. 대상 및 방법: 평균연령 $90.86{\pm}20.73$개월의 5명의 윌리암스 증후군 아동의 인지적 특성을 연령 및 성별이 유사한 12명의 프라더윌리증후군 혹은 다운증후군 아동의 인지적 특성과 비교, 분석하였다. 결 과: 윌리암스증후군 아동에서 언어성 지능 항목의 합은 $15.71{\pm}9.27$, 동작성 지능 항목의 합은 $14.29{\pm}7.50$으로, 언어성 지능과 동작성 지능 간의 유의한 차이를 보이지 않았다. 윌리암스증후군, 프라더윌리증후군, 다운증후군 아동들간의 언어성 지능의 유의한 차이는 관찰되지 않았다. 윌리암스증후군 아동에서 시공간지각과 관여된 세부항목의 선택적 저하는 관찰되지 않았으나, 물체조합 항목에서 프라더윌리증후군 아동에 비하여 유의한 기능의 저하를 보였다. 결 론: 윌리암스증후군 아동이 전체 지능에 비하여 상대적으로 높은 언어성 지능을 보인다는 일반적인 개념은 본 연구에서는 관찰되지 않았다. 동시에 윌리암스증후군 아동은 프라더윌리증후군이나 다운증후군 아동과의 비교 시에도 우수한 언어기능을 보이지 않았다. 그러나 윌리암스증후군 아동은 프라더윌리증후군 아동과 비교 시 현저히 낮은 시공간기능을 보였다.

Keywords

References

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