Bone-Marrow Transplants Affects Childhood Development

Dr. Ruthruff and researchers at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology and the University of California at San Francisco believe that kids who undergo bone-marrow transplants will experiment a decline in communication and other developmental skills.

They have presented results to back up this belief at the 15th American Psychological Association Convention held in San Francisco, California. 

According to their study, "Infants younger than two at the time of bone marrow transplantation are at risk of declines in IQ and for slowing the rate of acquisition of developmental skills."

Ruthruff took 52 kids who underwent bone-marrow transplant and examined their communication and other developmental skills before undergoing the bone marrow transplantation and after an average of 14.5 months post-therapy. A variety of ailments affected those kids who underwent the surgical procedure. Twenty-six had forms of severe combined immunodeficiency, eight had inborn metabolism errors, seven had leukemia, six had other forms of immunodeficiency diseases, two were diagnosed with neuroblastoma, two had non-malignant hematological disorders, and one each had a germ cell tumor, an undefined tumor, and a marrow stem cell deficit.

The researchers used two commonly used methods to assess development in kids: the validated Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and Bayley Scales of Infant Development.

Factors describing different developmental issues changed after the surgical procedure. In fact, both the communication skills factor and Socialization skills factor declined (from 99.09 to 90.25, and from 100.44 to 94.56, respectively). Also, daily living skills, motors skills, the Mental development index, and the Psychomotor development skills were negatively affected by the bone-marrow transplantation surgical procedure.

The decline of developmental and socializing skills in kids who undergo bone-marrow transplantation is attributed to the long periods of isolation that kids are subjected after the surgical procedure.