Home environment, not duration of breast-feeding, predicts intelligence quotient of children at four years

The long-term effects of Ramadan fasting during pregnancy on the brain development of the fetus are still not clear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of maternal fasting during Ramadan on the intelligence quotient of their progeny. A historical cohort study was conducted on 191 children aged between 4 to 13 years, 98 whose mothers fasted throughout Ramadan when they were pregnant with their children (case group) and 93 children whose mothers did not fast (control group). The children were selected from 15 schools via a questionnaire filled out by their mothers. Detailed demographic, medical history, and socioeconomic status data were collected by interviewing the mothers. All children aged between 6 to 13 were administered the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), and those aged between 4 to 6 were administered Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence (WPPSI), and intelligence quotient was estimated. Cases included 47 boys and 51 girls aged 8.5 ± 2.5 years and controls included 44 boys and 49 girls aged 8.7 ± 2.5 years. There were no significant differences in sex and age between two groups. Among background and confounder variables, the percentage of Caesarean section and the duration of breast-feeding were significantly different between case and control groups; 29% Caesarean section in cases vs. 45% in controls (p < 0.05) and 17.2 ± 9 months breast-feeding for cases vs. 14.5 ± 9 months for controls (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in socioeconomic status of families between the groups whereas socioeconomic status accounted for approximately 17% of the variances in the average of full-scale intelligence quotient scores. Adjusted mean and standard deviation of full-scale intelligence quotient scores, performance and verbal, were 111 ± 10, 109 ± 11 and 110 ± 11 for the case group and 112 ± 10, 110 ± 11 and 110 ± 11 for the control group respectively. No significant differences were observed between the IQ scores of the two groups. Fasting during gestation did not adversely affect IQ of children whose mothers had fasted during Ramadan while being pregnant.

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Comparisons of Auditory Brainstem Responses Between a Laboratory and Simulated Home Environment

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2020_jslhr-20-00383 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (11) ◽

pp. 3877-3892

Author(s):

Ashley Parker ◽

Candace Slack ◽

Erika Skoe

Keyword(s):

Home Environment ◽

Signal To Noise Ratio ◽

Auditory Brainstem ◽

Auditory Brainstem Responses ◽

Single Family ◽

Adult Participants ◽

Simulated Home Environment ◽

Brainstem Response ◽

Research Populations ◽

Response Consistency

Purpose Miniaturization of digital technologies has created new opportunities for remote health care and neuroscientific fieldwork. The current study assesses comparisons between in-home auditory brainstem response (ABR) recordings and recordings obtained in a traditional lab setting. Method Click-evoked and speech-evoked ABRs were recorded in 12 normal-hearing, young adult participants over three test sessions in (a) a shielded sound booth within a research lab, (b) a simulated home environment, and (c) the research lab once more. The same single-family house was used for all home testing. Results Analyses of ABR latencies, a common clinical metric, showed high repeatability between the home and lab environments across both the click-evoked and speech-evoked ABRs. Like ABR latencies, response consistency and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were robust both in the lab and in the home and did not show significant differences between locations, although variability between the home and lab was higher than latencies, with two participants influencing this lower repeatability between locations. Response consistency and SNR also patterned together, with a trend for higher SNRs to pair with more consistent responses in both the home and lab environments. Conclusions Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining high-quality ABR recordings within a simulated home environment that closely approximate those recorded in a more traditional recording environment. This line of work may open doors to greater accessibility to underserved clinical and research populations.

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