A Cross Sectional Study of the Distribution of Macrostructural of Russian Primary School Children and Children with Disorders from the Group of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Background. The prevalence of structural brain abnormalities among Russian children remains unknown, which hinders effective planning for the prevention of severe neurological and neurosurgical complications. The significance of a number of conditionally pathological findings that are accidentally detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in clinical practice also remains debatable.

The aim of the study is to determine the frequency of macrostructural changes in the brain among primary school— age children, detected by MRI of the brain, and to assess their clinical significance in relation to disorders from the group of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Methods. All participants, 7–8 year old children from Chelyabinsk and Moscow, underwent an MRI scan of the brain, representatives of the Moscow cohort of children additionally underwent an in-depth clinical and psychological examination: consultation with a neurologist/psychiatrist, neuropsychological and speech therapy testing, and Wexler intelligence assessment.

Results. 162 children of the combined (Chelyabinsk and Moscow) population sample and 114 Moscow children of the pathology group — ADHD, MCI and their combined variants were examined. A subgroup of 30 neurologically healthy children was also isolated from the Moscow population cohort. The most common findings in the population group were ventricular asymmetries (35.8%), dilation of perivascular spaces (11.1%), epiphysis cysts (4.3%), and an increase in the size of the large brain cistern (4.3%). According to the survey results, 2.5% of the children were referred for in-depth examination in connection with the findings. Conditionally pathological findings in general and specifically perivascular space dilation and arachnoid cysts are significantly more common among children with MCI and combined pathology of MCI + ADHD compared with neurologically healthy children and the general population of children.

Conclusion. Continuous screening of Russian children using MRI can identify about 2.5% of children with suspected serious abnormalities requiring specialized monitoring. In addition, some findings that are considered insignificant may signal mild neuropathology.

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