Evaluation of Mental Development in Relation to Early Malnutrition

Abstract

The intelligence quotient, using the test procedures of Wechsler and Goodenough was measured in a group of Indonesian children aged 5–12 years whose early nutritional history and nutritional state 6 years prior to the present studies were known. It was found that their intellectual development, as well as their physical development, could be predicted with a high degree of accuracy on the basis of their nutritional status during the preschool years. The lowest values were found in the children who had been malnourished and had shown clinical signs of vitamin A deficiency during the 2- to 4-year age period and the highest in those who had never been diagnosed as malnourished. It is not claimed that the impairment of intellectual development is or has been irreparable. No similar relation between EEG and nutritional condition was found. Although a large number of children, 30% of the total, had a mildly abnormal pattern, the proportion was no higher in the malnourished than in the healthy children.