Tetrasomy 18p: report of cognitive and behavioral characteristics

Am J Med Genet A. 2015 Jul;167(7):1474-82. doi: 10.1002/ajmg.a.37036. Epub 2015 Apr 21.

Abstract

Our purpose was to describe intellectual and behavioral characteristics of persons with tetrasomy 18p. This is a more detailed investigation into the cognitive and behavioral characteristics of our previously reported tetrasomy 18p cohort of 43 plus six additional participants. We evaluated the intellectual functioning using standard measures of cognitive ability, measures of executive functioning, adaptive and maladaptive behaviors. Intellectual abilities ranged from mild impairment/borderline normal to severe/profound impairment calling into question the assumption that severe cognitive limitation is always a feature of tetrasomy 18p. For persons with tetrasomy 18p with mild cognitive deficits, the main barriers to successful functioning stems from limited social and metacognitive skill development and behavior regulation problems rather than being solely determined by cognitive deficits alone.

Keywords: chromosome 18; chromosome abnormality; isochromosome 18p.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological / physiology*
  • Adolescent
  • Aneuploidy
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / genetics
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 18 / physiology
  • Cognition Disorders / physiopathology*
  • Comparative Genomic Hybridization
  • Executive Function / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Phenotype*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Young Adult

Supplementary concepts

  • Chromosome 18, tetrasomy 18p