NEW YORK (Reuters Health):
MENTAL AND social stimulation through play early in life appears to have lasting benefits in poorly nourished children with growth retardation.
According to a study in The Lancet this week, mental stimulation at nine to 24 months of age among a group of growth-stunted Jamaican children led to improved cognitive function and better academic performance in high school.
"Home visits for mothers and children by community health workers trained to demonstrate stimulation activities and encourage mother-child interaction improved the development of undernourished children," Dr. Susan Walker, who led the study, said.
"This early childhood intervention had sustained benefits for ability at age 18 years and reduced school dropout," added Dr. Walker, who is with the University of the West Indies in Mona.
In developing countries, poor nutrition early in life, either before or after birth, or both, causes stunting in a third of all children younger than age five. Children with stunted growth early in life have cognitive difficulties and perform poorly at school later in life.
TWO TYPES OF INTERVENTION
In 1991, Dr. Walker and colleagues published the results of an initial two-year study of 129 stunted Jamaican children, which showed that two types of intervention nutritional support in the form of 1 kg of milk-based formula per week and psychosocial stimulation was associated with improved cognitive development.
The researchers who have been following the children, now report that the early cognitive benefits of psychosocial stimulation are sustained.
Compared with growth-stunted children who received no intervention, those who enjoyed stimulating play as toddlers had higher IQ scores and higher reading and math test scores at age 17 and 18 years. Non-stimulated growth-stunted children had marked deficits in reading and math and were more likely to drop out of school.
The early benefits of nutritional support alone, however, were not sustained.
Dr. Walker and colleagues say their findings "emphasise the need to increase efforts to prevent childhood growth retardation" and show that "important benefits can be achieved for children who are already undernourished through early childhood stimulation."
