Browsing by Subject "tarkkaavuus"

Goals: The connection between concussion history and learning disabilities has not been studied widely. The same symptoms (e.g. attention deficits) are related to both concussions and learning disabilities. Learning disabilities and concussion history have both been linked to deviant baseline-scores and increased risk of getting a new concussion than controls. Interaction between concussion history and learning disability has been studied hardly at all. The objective of present study is to examine the effect of concussion history and learning disability on attention in a baseline-study of Finnish male junior ice hockey players. Methods: Study sample was part of baseline-study of Heads in the Game -project. Data was gathered in the summer 2016. A total sample consisted of 955 male junior ice hockey players (aged 12-21 years) of whom 1.9 % reported both concussion history and learning disability, 5.8 % reported learning disability and 29.3 % reported at least one previous concussion. Attention was measured via OmaKesky and d2-R. Data was analyzed using multivariance analyses controlled by age. Results and conclusions: Concussion history was not related to attention. Learning disabilities were related to higher amount of self-reported attention deficits in OmaKesky and to weaker accuracy in d2-R than controls. The deviant functioning observed in learning disabilities at baseline must be taken into consideration when suspecting a concussion in a way that functioning after concussion is compared to person's own baseline rather than to age-group norms. The interaction between concussion history and learning disabilities was not found in present study. However, people with both concussion history and learning disability, reported significantly more attention deficits than and a group of only concussion history or controls. The interaction between concussion history and learning disability on cognitive abilities should be studied more in the future.

Objectives. Asylum-seekers are a population that has been exposed to multiple risk factors e.g. trauma and other severe stress. Most mental health services have not been developed to accommodate to the needs of this population and therefore might not be suitable. Also, diagnostic processes might fail taking into account their specific characteristics adequately. The potential post-traumatic symptoms of asylum-seekers can overlap with symptoms of hyperactivity and attention, but these might not be sufficiently disentangled in health care services. In addition, research concerning these issues has been sparse. This thesis attempts to bring more understanding of the factors that are connected to hyperactivity and attention in asylum-seeker children. My research question is whether the child’s and mother’s possible traumatic experiences and mother’s depression and anxiety are connected to the child’s hyperactivity and attention. My hypothesis is that possible traumatic experiences and the mother’s depression and anxiety increase the likelihood of the child having a higher level of hyperactivity and attention symptoms. Methods. The research data was collected for the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare’s (THL) TERTTU-study, which developed a Finnish health examination protocol for asylum-seekers. The data included asylum-seekers who were registered as first-time asylum-seekers in the Finnish Immigration Services between 19.2–30.11.2018. The original sample comprised 1087 asylum-seekers, of whom children 5 to 12 years old, whose information could be linked to their mothers, were included (n=106) in this thesis. The health examination was conducted on average within a month of the family’s arrival in Finland. The mothers estimated the child’s hyperactivity and attention symptoms using SCQ and their own depression and anxiety using HSCL-25. Possible traumatic events were reported with a form that was specifically developed for the TERTTU study. Results. Of the possible traumatic experiences and mother’s psychopathology the only statistically significant association emerged between the mother’s clinically significant depression score and the child’s higher hyperactivity and attention score. Possible traumatic experiences and mother’s anxiety were not associated to the child’s hyperactivity and attention. Conclusions. The child’s and mother’s possible traumatic experiences don’t seem to be connected to the child’s hyperactivity and attention in asylum-seeker families. The effect of traumatic experiences might however be mediated by the parent’s psychopathology or other factors. This study found an association between the mother’s depression and the child’s hyperactivity and attention. Nonetheless, the associations between trauma and hyperactivity and attention in asylum-seeker children require further research in the future with longitudinal study covering more possible mediating factors and mechanisms.

Objective: COVID-19 disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus may result in long-term symptoms in some patients. Based on the definition of WHO, long covid is a condition usually occurring three months after the infection with symptoms lasting at least two months. Some patients also develop cognitive symptoms, particularly deficits in attention and executive functions. This study aimed to explore the association between long covid and cognition six months after the acute phase of the disease. The purpose was to determine whether the long-term symptoms are connected to total cognitive score and three domains: attention, executive functions, and memory. Methods: The data of this study were gathered as a part of the RECOVID-20 project of University of Helsinki and Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS). The subjects (N = 152, 84 women, mean age 54.3) required different level of care in the acute phase of the COVID-19 disease: intensive care, regular ward care, or no hospital care. The subjects were divided into two groups, those who had long-covid symptoms with impact on everyday functioning (N = 56), and those who did not (N = 96), based on a telephone interview three months after the acute phase. Six months after the acute phase, the patients underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. The associations of long-term symptoms with total cognitive score and three domains were analyzed using a general linear model. Results and conclusions: The long-term symptoms were not associated with either total cognitive score or the three domains. The interval of patient examination for long-term cognitive impairment in previous studies was not as extensive as in this study. Moreover, the previous studies did not include patients with a milder form of the disease. Thus, this study brings new and important information on long covid. However, more research is needed better to understand long covid and its long-term implications.

Objective Executive function deficits are associated with a risk for psychopathology in childhood, but a consensus on the exact details of the relationship is lacking. This study sought to clarify the relationship by investigating in a child psychiatric sample the association between preschool executive functions and concurrent and school-age 1) psychiatric symptoms and 2) ADHD diagnosis, and 3) the role of age and sex of the child and socioeconomic status of the family in the relationships. Methods The baseline data (n=166) used in this study was recruited in 2015-2017 from child psychiatric outpatient clinics, and the follow-up sample (n=65) was collected by contacting the original sample in 2021. At baseline the children were aged 4 to 7 (70.5% boys), and at follow-up 8 to 13 years (75.4% boys). Executive functions (including inhibition, attention, and execution of action) were measured at baseline with The Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory – Preschool Version filled in by daycare nurses, and psychiatric symptoms (internalizing, externalizing, attention and total) were measured at both timepoints by age-appropriate versions of Child Behavior Check List filled in by parents. ADHD diagnoses at both timepoints were collected from medical records. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the concurrent and predictive associations. Age and sex of the child, and parental education were controlled in the analyses. Results Preschool executive functions were associated with concurrent psychiatric symptoms to varying degrees. Contrary to previous findings, no concurrent associations with total psychiatric symptoms or predictive associations with any psychiatric symptom categories were found. All preschool executive functions were associated with concurrent ADHD diagnosis, and they continued to predict school-age ADHD diagnosis, even when preschool age diagnosis was controlled for. Conclusion The role of executive function deficits in ADHD is evident, and they may precipitate the disorder. Executive functions are an essential part of ADHD assessment. The association with psychiatric symptoms is more complex, as different components of executive functions are differently associated with internalizing, externalizing and attention symptoms. More research is needed to find out if the results are applicable only to clinical populations.