Hostname: page-component-7f64f4797f-kjzhn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-04T00:15:02.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Infection, nutrition and cognitive performance in children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

K. J. Connolly  and
J. D. Kvalsvig
K. J. Connolly
Affiliation:
Department of Psycology, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2UR, UK
J. D. Kvalsvig
Affiliation:
Child Development Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Natal, PO Box 17302, Congella 4013, and University of Natal, Durban, Republic of South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The paper considers briefly the nature of cognition and its relationship to intelligence. The information processing model of human cognition is outlined and IQ and DQ are explained. The literature dealing with the effects of malnutrition and parasitic infection on cognitive performance and development in children is selectively reviewed. A speculative hypothesis concerning the psychological effects of parasitic infection is sketched and brief consideration is given to models and measures in research on development.

Keywords

Cognitionmalnutritionparasitesdevelopmentbehaviourinfection

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 107 , supplement S1: Human nutrition and parasitic infection , January 1993 , pp. S187 - S200
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Abdalla, A., Badran, A. & Galal, S. (1964). Effect of bilharziasis on the mental power and scholastic achievement of children. Journal of the Egyptian Health Association 39, 135–46.Google Scholar
Alluisi, E. A., Beisel, W. R., Bartelloni, P. J. & Coates, G. D. (1973). Behavioural effects of Tularemia and Sandfly Fever in man. Journal oj Infectious Diseases 128, 710–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alluisi, E. A., Thurmond, J. B. & Coates, G. D. (1971). Behavioural effects of infectious disease: respiratory Pasteurella tulareusis in man. Perceptual and Motor Skills 32, 647–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, M. (1992). Intelligence and Development: A Cognitive Theory. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Karim, M. A. Awad El, Collins, K. C. & Dove, C. (1987). Energy expenditure of agricultural workers in an area of endemic schistosomiasis in the Sudan. British Journal of Industrial Medicine 44, 64–7.Google Scholar
Karim, M. A. Awad El, Collins, K. J., Brotherhood, J. R., Dove, C., Weiner, J. S., Sukkar, M. Y., Omer, A. H. S. & Amin, M. A. (1980). Quantitative egg excretion and work capacity in a Gezira population infected with Schistosoma mansoni. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 29, 54–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, M. A. Awad El, Collins, K. C., Sukkar, M. Y., Omer, A. H. S., Amin, M. A. & Dove, C. C. (1981). An assessment of anti-schistosomal treatment on physical work capacity. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 84, 67–72.Google Scholar
Baars, B. J. (1986). The Cognitive Revolution in Psychology. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Barbosa, F. S. & Costa, D. P. Pereira Da (1981). Incapacitating effects of schistosomiasis mansoni on the productivity of sugar cane cutters in northeastern Brazil. American Journal of Epidemiology 114, 102–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, D. E. & Frank, D. A. (1987). The Effects of Undernutrition on Children's Behavior. London: Gordon and Breach.Google Scholar
Barley, N. (1969). Bayley Scales of Infant Development. New York: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Bell, R. M. S., Daly, J., Kanengeoni, E. & Jones, J. J. (1973). The effects of endemic schistosomiasis and of hycanthone on the mental ability of African school children. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 67, 694–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Callender, J. E. M., Grantham-McGregor, S. M., Walker, S. & Cooper, E. S. (1992). Trichuris infection and mental development in children. Lancet 339, 181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castle, W. M., Clarke, V. De V. & Hendrikz, E. (1974). The effects of the sub-clinical Bilharziasis on mental ability in school children. South African Medical Journal 48, 2035–8.Google Scholar
Clarke, V. De V. & Blair, D. M. (1966). The prevalence of bilharziasis in European schoolboys at Salisbury, Rhodesia. Central African Medical Journal 12, 25–28.Google ScholarPubMed
Collins, K. J., Brotherhood, R. J., Davies, C. T. M., Dove, C., Hackett, A. J., Imms, J. F., Musgrove, J., Weiner, J. S., Amin, M. A., Karim, M. El, Ismail, H. M., Omer, A. H. S. & Sukkar, M. Y. (1976). Physiological performance and work capacity of Sudanese cane cutters with Schistosoma mansoni infection. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 25, 410–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connolly, K. J. (1991). Psychometrices and nutrition. In Nutritional Status Assessment (ed. Fidanza, F.), pp. 457—73. London: Chapman and Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connolly, K. J. & Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (1993). Key issues in generating a psychological-testing protocol. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Supplement 57, 3175–85.Google ScholarPubMed
Cosnett, J. E. & Dellen, J. R. Van (1986). Schistosomiasis (Bilharzia) of the spinal cord: case report and clinical profile. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, New Series 61, 1131–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Cravioto, J. & Arrieta, R. (1986). Nutrition, mental development and learning. In Human Growth 3: Neurobiology and Nutrition, 2nd edn (ed. Falkner, F. & Tanner, J. M.), pp. 501–36. New York: Plenum.Google Scholar
Cravioto, J. & Delicardie, E. R. (1972). Environmental correlates of severe clinical malnutrition and language development in survivors from kwashiorkor or marasmus. In Nutrition, The Nervous System and Behavior, pp. 73–94. Panamerican Health Organisation, Scientific Publication, No 251.Google Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T. (1992). Ascariasis and childhood malnutrition. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 86, 577–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dawson, S. & Conn, J. M. C. (1931). Intelligence and disease. Medical Research Council, Special Reports, No. 162. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Deinard, A. S., List, A., Lindgron, B., Hunt, J. V. – Chang, P. N. (1986). Cognitive deficits in iron deficient and non-iron deficient anaemic children. Journal of Pediatrics 108, 681–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, D. I. (1985). Cerebral function in iron deficiency: a review. Child Care Health and Development 11, 105–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evans, D., Moodie, A. & Hansen, J. (1971). Kwashiorkor and intellectual development. South African Medical Journal 45, 1413–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Ewald, P. W. (1980). Evolutionary biology and the treatment of signs and symptoms of infectious disease. Journal of Theoretical Biology 86, 169–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eysenck, M. W. & Keane, M. T. (1990). Cognitive Psychology: A Student's Handbook. London: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Fenwick, A. & Figenshou, B. H. (1972). Effect of Schistosoma mansoni on the productivity of cane cutters on a sugar estate in Tanzania. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation 47, 567–72.Google ScholarPubMed
Foster, R. (1967). Schistosmiasis on an irrigated estate in East Africa. III. Effect of asymptomatic infection on health and industrial efficiency. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 70, 185–195.Google Scholar
Gesell, A. & Amatruda, C. S. (1947). Developmental Diagnosis, 2nd ed.New York: Harper.Google ScholarPubMed
Goldin, D. & Barclay, R. (1972). Schistosomiasis in rual Zambia. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 85, 551–68.Google Scholar
Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (1987). Field studies in early nutrition and later achievement. In Early Nutrition and Later Achievement (ed. Dobbing, J.), pp. 128–53. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (1989). The effects of undernutrition on mental development. In Handbook of the Psychophysiology of Human Eating (ed. Shepherd, R.), pp. 321–39. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (1993). Assessments of the effects of nutrition on mental development and behavior in Jamaican studies. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 57, 303–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grantham-McGregor, S. M., Schofield, W. & Haggard, D. (1989). Maternal–child interaction in survivors of severe malnutrition who received psychosocial stimulation. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 45–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, R. (1954). The Abilities of Babies. London: University of London Press.Google Scholar
Hart, B. L. (1990). Behaviour adaptations to pathogens and parasites, five strategies. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 14, 273–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hertzig, M., Birch, H., Richardson, S. & Tizard, J. (1972). Intellectual levels of school children severely malnourished during the first two years of life. Pediatrics 49, 814–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Honzik, M. P. (1983). Measuring mental abilities in infancy: the value and limitations. In Origins of Intelligence, 2nd edn (ed. Lewis, M.), pp. 67–105. New York: Plenum.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoorweg, J. & Stanfield, J. (1976). The effects of protein-energy malnutrition in early childhood on intellectual and motor abilities in later childhood and adolescence. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 18, 330–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horowitz, F. D. (1989). Using developmental theory to guide the search for the effects of biological risk factors on the development of children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 589–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joos, S., Pollitt, E., Mueller, W. & Albright, D. (1983). The Bacon Chow Study: maternal nutritional supplementation and infant behavioral development. Child Development 54, 669–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jordan, P. & Randell, K. (1962). Bilharziasis in Tanganyika: observations on its effects and the effects of treatment in school children. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 55, 1–6.Google Scholar
Kieser, J. A. (1947). Schistosomiasis: an educational problem. South African Medical Journal 21, 954–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Kimura, E., Moji, K., Uga, S., Kiliku, E. M., Migui, D. K., Mutua, W. R., Muhoho, N. D. & Aoki, Y. (1992). Effects of Schistosoma haematobium infection on mental test scores of Kenyan school children. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 43, 155–8.Google ScholarPubMed
Kvalsvig, J. D. (1981). The effects of schistosomiasis on spontaneous play activity in black school children in endemic areas. South African Medical Journal 60, 61–4.Google ScholarPubMed
Kvalsvig, J. D. (1986). The effects of Schistosomiasis haematobium on the activity of school children. Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 89, 85–90.Google ScholarPubMed
Kvalsvig, J. D., Cooppan, R. M. & Connolly, K. J. (1991). The effects of parasite infections on cognitive processes in children. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 85, 551–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lachman, R., Lachman, J. L. & Butterfield, E. C. (1979). Cognitive Psychology and Information Processing. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lewis, M. & Sullivan, M. W. (1985). Infant intelligence and its assessment. In Handbook of Intelligence (ed. Wolman, B. B.), pp. 505–99. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Loveridge, F. G., Ross, W. F. & Blair, D. M. (1948). Schistosomiasis: the effect of the disease on educational attainment. South African Medical Journal 22, 260–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Lozoff, B. (1988). Behavioural alterations in iron deficiency. Advances in Pediatrics 35, 357–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Margen, S. (1984). Protein Energy Malnutrition: the web of causes and consequences. In Malnutrition and Behavior: Critical Assessment of Key Issues (ed.Brozek, J. & Schürch, B.), pp. 20–31. Lausanne, Switzerland: Nestlé Foundation.Google Scholar
Moodie, A., Bowie, M., Mann, M. & Hansen, J. (1980). A prospective 15-year follow-up study of kwashiorkor patients. Part II. Social circumstances, educational attainment and social adjustment. South African Medical Journal 58, 677–81.Google ScholarPubMed
Murray, E. A., Ranseh, D. M., Lendvay, J., Sharer, L. R. & Eiden, L. E. (1992). Cognitive and motor impairments associated with SIV infections in rhesus monkeys. Science 255, 1246–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nokes, C., Cooper, E. S., Robinson, B. A. & Bundy, D. A. P. (1991). Geohelminth infection and academic assessment in Jamaican children. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 85, 272–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nokes, C., Grantham-McGregor, S. M., Sawyer, A. W., Robinson, B. A. & Bundy, D. A. P. (1992). Moderate to heavy infections of Trichuris trichiura affect cognitive function in Jamaican school children. Parasitology 104, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Omer, A. H. S. & Ahmed, N.El Din (1974). Assessment of physical performance and lung function in Schistosoma mansoni infection. East African Medical Journal 51, 217–22.Google ScholarPubMed
Parker, M. (1992). Re-assessing disability: the impact of schistosomal infection on daily activities among women in Gezira Province, Sudan. Social Science and Medicine 35, 877–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pasamanick, B. & Knobloch, H. (1966). Retrospective studies on the epidemiology of reproductive casualty: old and new. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly Behavior and Development 12, 7–26.Google Scholar
Pollitt, E. (1984). Nutrition and Educational Achievement. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Pollitt, E. (1990). Malnutrition and Infection in the Classroom. Paris: UNESCO.Google Scholar
Pollitt, E., Hathirat, P., Kotchabhakdi, N. J., Missell, L. & Balyasevi, A. (1989). Iron deficiency and educational achievement in Thailand. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 687–697.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pollitt, E., Leibel, R. L. & Greenfield, D. (1983). Iron deficiency and cognitive test performance in preschool children. Nutrition and Behaviour 1, 137–46.Google Scholar
Pollitt, E., Saco-Pollitt, C., Leibel, R. L. & Viteri, F. E. (1986). Iron deficiency and behavioural development in infants and preschool children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 43, 555–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, R. W., Brew, B., Sidtis, J., Rosenblum, M., Sheck, A. C. & Cleary, P. (1988). The brain in AIDS: Central nervous system HIV-1 infection and AIDS dementia complex. Science 239, 586–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Raven, J. C. (1965). The Coloured Progressive Matrices Test. London: H. K. Lewis.Google Scholar
Richardson, S., Birch, H. & Hertzig, M. (1973). School performance of children who were severely malnourished in infancy. American Journal of Mental Deficiency 77, 623–32.Google ScholarPubMed
Sameroff, A. J. & Chandler, M. J. (1975). Reproductive risk and the continuum of caretaking casualty. In Review of Child Development Research 4 (ed. Horowitz, F. D.), pp. 187–244. London: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sameroff, A., Seifer, R., Barocas, R., Zax, M. & Greenspan, S. (1987). Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: social environmental risk factors. Pediatrics 79, 343–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scrimgeour, E. M. & Gajdusek, C. D. (1985). Involvement of the central nervous system in Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium infection. Brain 108, 1023–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sheshardri, S. & Gopaldas, T. (1989). Impact of iron supplementation on cognitive functions in preschool and school aged children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 675–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sigman, M., Neumann, C., Jansen, A. A. J. & Buribo, N. (1989). Cognitive abilities of Kenyan children in relation to nutrition, family characteristics and education. Child Development 60, 1463–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Simeon, D. T. & Grantham-McGregor, S. M. (1990). Nutritional deficiencies and children's behaviour and mental development. Nutrition Research Reviews 3, 1–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. (1989). A review of the effects of colds and influenza on human performance. Journal of Social and Occupational Medicine 39, 65–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. P., Tyrrell, D. A. J., Coyle, K. B. & William, J. S. (1987). Selective effects of minor illnesses on performance. British Journal of Psychology 78, 183–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, A. P., Tyrrell, D. A. J., Al-Nakib, W., Coyle, K. B., Dovovan, C. B., Hoggins, P. G. & William, J. S. (1988). The effects of experimentally induced respiratory virus infections on performance. Psychological Medicine 18, 65–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soemantri, A. G. (1989). Preliminary findings on iron supplementation and learning achievement of rural Indonesian children. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 698–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Soemantri, A. G., Pollitt, E. & Kim, I. (1985). Iron deficiency anaemia and educational achievement. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 42, 1221–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sternberg, R. J. (1985). Human Abilities. New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
Sternberg, R. J. & Salter, W. (1982). Conceptions of intelligence. In Handbook of Human Intelligence (ed. Sternberg, R. J.), pp. 3–28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strong, E. K. (1916). Effects of Hookworm Disease on the Mental and Physical Development of Children. International Health Commission, Publication 3. New York: Rockefeller Foundation.Google Scholar
Super, C. M., Herrera, M. G. & Mora, J. O. (1990). Long-term effects of food supplementation and psychosocial intervention on the physical growth of Columbian infants at risk of malnutrition. Child Development 61, 29–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valenzula, M. (1990). Attachment in chronically underweight young children. Child Development 61, 1984–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waber, D. P., Vuori-Christiansen, L., Ortiz, N., Clement, J. R., Christiansen, N. E., Mora, J. O., Reed, R. B. & Herrera, M. G. (1981). Nutritional supplementation, maternal education and cognitive development of infants at risk of malnutrition. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 34, 807–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waite, J. H. & Neilson, L. (1919). A study of the effects of hookworm infection upon the mental development of North Queensland school children. Medical Journal of Australia 1, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. R. P., Walker, B. F. & Richardson, D. B. (1970). Studies on schistosomiasis in the South African Bantu school child population. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 19, 792–814.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, A. R. P., Walker, B. F., Richardson, B. D. & Smit, P. J. (1972). Running performance in South African Bantu children with schistosomiasis. Tropical and Geographical Medicine 24, 347–52.Google ScholarPubMed
Warm, J. S. & Alluisi, E. A. (1967). Behavioural reactions to infection: a review of the psychological literature. Perceptual Motor Skills 24, 755–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterlow, J. C. (1984). Current issues in nutritional assessment by anthropometry. In Malnutrition and Behavior: Critical Assessment of Key Issues (ed. Brozek, J. & Schürch, B.), pp. 77–90. Lausanne, Switzerland: Nestlé Foundation.Google Scholar
Werner, E. E. (1989). Children of the Garden Island. Scientific American 260, 76–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Werner, E. E. & Smith, R. s. (1977). Kauai's Children Come of Age. Honolulu: University Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Werner, E. E., Simonian, K., Bierman, J. M. & French, F. E. (1967). Cumulative effect of perinatal complications and deprived social environment on physical, intellectual, and social development of preschool children. Pediatrics 39, 490–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, G. C. & Nesse, R. M. (1991). The dawn of Darwinian medicine. Quarterly Review of Biology 66, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yehuda, S. & Youdim, M. B. H. (1989). Brain iron: a lesson from animal models. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 618–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Youdim, M. B. H., Ben-Shachar, D. & Yehuda, S. (1989). Putative biological mechanisms of the effect of iron deficiency on brain biochemistry and behavior. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 50, 607–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed