Danny CarltonSeems to me that the study takes liberties with their wording considering the lack of real world similarities in their alleged findings.
Note the study is from 1991 -- 14 years-old.
Learning disabilities in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
Nass R, Baker S.
Department of Pediatrics, New York Hospital Cornell University Medical Center, NY.
Early exposure to androgens may be a cause of the higher incidence of learning disabilities among males. To test this hypothesis, we determined the frequency of learning disabilities, as measured by extent of Wechsler Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancy, among female patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, who are exposed in utero to excess androgens for their sex. A significantly larger Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancy (10.1 vs 7.7) was found for the 18 female patients than for 27 unaffected female siblings (P = .045, one-tailed).The reason I classified my own experience as anecdotal is because I didn’t feel that long term observation of four children (two with CAH, two without) warranted a broader conclusion. A very short-term observation of 45 individuals seems equally anecdotal.
The Verbal-Performance IQ discrepancy of the females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia is in the male range (10.4 to 13.4), similar to males with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (n = 20) and unaffected male siblings (n = 31).
Almost any parent of a CAH girl could have told them that. I’m still not seeing anything that would prove to be more accurate than the observations of most parents on this board.
In addition to the sex effect, there is an effect of the type of congenital adrenal hyperplasia on the frequency of learning disabilities. Simple virilizers are more likely to be learning disabled than salt-wasters (P = .04, one-tailed).
Unfortunately they do not clearly define what they mean by “learning disabled”. In my experience this term is misapplied more often than not.
However, salt-waster patients have a lower IQ (104 vs 117) than simple virilizer patients (P = .005, one-tailed).
Uh, excuse me, but isn’t 100 average?!?
Presumably, this is because some salt-waster patients suffer brain injury from episodes of hypotension and hyponatremia.
Anyone can make wild assumptions, is that really what we pay scientists and researchers to do?
The diffuse insult to the central nervous system may overide the androgen effect and result in a general cognitive impairment. Because of this confounding effect on IQ in the salt-waster form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia, the simple virilizer female versus unaffected female siblings reprsents the best test of the hypothesis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
I’m not very impressed by this abstract since it relies on a small sampling with limited testing, and lots of baseless assumptions.
There’s also this one:
Nine years old.
Elevated androgen, brain development and language/learning disabilities in children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
Plante E, Boliek C, Binkiewicz A, Erly WK.
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721, USA.I do want to point out that this was done by people who financially benefit from an increased number of those classified as “learning disabled” a common factor for misdiagnosis.
Individuals with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) provide a test population for the theory that elevated testosterone levels alter prenatal brain development and increase the risk of learning disabilities.
I other words...men are stupid...these guys are not impressing me much.
Eleven subjects with CAH, five of their non-CAH siblings and 16 matched control subjects participated in two studies.
A sampling group of 32. We have more than that being observed by those that post at those board.
The first study documented hand preference, verbal skills and non-verbal skills. A higher prevalence of language/learning disability was found in both the CAH subjects and their families than in the control subjects.
In the absence of any data regarding their “matched control” methods I would wonder if that conclusion means anything at all.
The second study examined the prevalence of atypical perisylvian asymmetries on MRI scans. These revealed an atypical pattern of asymmetry (R = L or R > L) in the majority of the subjects with CAH and in all of their siblings. One subject with CAH also showed evidence of a neuromigratory disturbance in the posterior left hemisphere. Of the control subjects, only one showed an atypical pattern of asymmetry and none showed evidence of a neuromigratory disorder. The findings indicate that an elevated familial rate for language-based learning disabilities and altered brain asymmetries co-occur in families with the gene for CAH.
PMID: 8698150 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]Small sampling...unspecified methods...overly broad conclusion, sounds like someone had a budget to justify. I have four kids, two with CAH, two without, and each and every one of them are doing schoolwork ahead of their grade level -- some subjects several grades ahead. And I have no budget to justify.
There’s another study, Presentation, acute illness, and learning difficulties in salt wasting 21-hydroxylase deficiency, that I also dismiss since it was done during a time in which the treatment for CAH was nowhere near what it is today -- therefore the treatment itself would have had more of an affect than the CAH.