Children who experience neglect in childhood showed changes in white brain matter lasting through adulthood, but early interventions were found to help combat these changes.
In a recent study researchers compared orphaned Romanian children who had experienced "social, emotional, linguistic and cognitive impoverishment" while living in an institution with those who were sent to high quality foster care, JAMA Pediatrics reported.
Researchers examined the white matter integrity of three groups of children who participated in the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) starting back in the year 2000. In the sample 136 of the 2-year-olds in the study had spent at least half their life in institutionalized care. These children were then randomly assigned to either remain in the institution of be sent to foster care. These children were then followed up at "30 months, 42 months, 54 months, 8 years and 12 years of age." Following the study data from 69 participants between the ages of 8 and 11 was selected for white matter analysis: 23 of these participants went from an institution to foster care; 26 remained in institutions; and 20 had never been institutionalized as controls.
The study data revealed significant links between neglect in early life and the structural integrity ( as well as certain other areas) of the brain; and early interventions such as caring foster homes helped reduce these dramatic changes.
"Results from this study contribute to growing evidence that severe neglect in early life affects the structural integrity of white matter throughout the brain and that early intervention may support long-term remediation in specific fiber tracts involved in limbic and frontostriatal circuitry and the sensory processes. Our findings have important implications for public health related to early prevention and intervention for children reared in conditions of severe neglect or adverse contexts more generally " the study concluded.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
