Karl C K Kuban, Timothy Heeren, T Michael O’Shea, Robert M Joseph, Raina N Fichorova, Laurie Douglass, Hernan Jara, Jean A Frazier, Deborah Hirtz, H Gerry Taylor, Julie Vanier Rollins, Nigel Paneth, ELGAN Study Investigators
J Pediatr. 2018 Jul 18. pii: S0022-3476(18)30677-2.
Controlling for the effects of inflammatory proteins, persistently elevated blood levels of ≥4 neurotrophic proteins were associated with reduced risk of moderate (OR, 0.35; 95% CI, 0.18-0.67) and severe cognitive impairment (OR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.09-0.53). Children with a cluster of elevated proteins including angiopoietin 1, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed, and secreted had a reduced risk of adverse cognitive outcomes (OR range, 0.31-0.6). The risk for moderate to severe cognitive impairment was least with 0-1 inflammatory and >4 neurotrophic proteins.
CONCLUSIONS: Persisting elevations of circulating neurotrophic proteins during the first 2 weeks of life are associated with lowered risk of impaired cognition at 10 years of age, controlling for increases in inflammatory proteins.