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The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement

BACKGROUND: The contribution of different cognitive abilities to academic performance in children surviving cerebral insult can guide the choice of interventions to improve cognitive and academic outcomes. This study's objective was to identify which cognitive abilities are associated with acad...

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Autores principales: Bangirana, Paul, Menk, Jeremiah, John, Chandy C., Boivin, Michael J., Hodges, James S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3562187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23383342
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055653
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author Bangirana, Paul
Menk, Jeremiah
John, Chandy C.
Boivin, Michael J.
Hodges, James S.
author_facet Bangirana, Paul
Menk, Jeremiah
John, Chandy C.
Boivin, Michael J.
Hodges, James S.
author_sort Bangirana, Paul
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The contribution of different cognitive abilities to academic performance in children surviving cerebral insult can guide the choice of interventions to improve cognitive and academic outcomes. This study's objective was to identify which cognitive abilities are associated with academic performance in children after malaria with neurological involvement. METHODS: 62 Ugandan children with a history of malaria with neurological involvement were assessed for cognitive ability (working memory, reasoning, learning, visual spatial skills, attention) and academic performance (reading, spelling, arithmetic) three months after the illness. Linear regressions were fit for each academic score with the five cognitive outcomes entered as predictors. Adjusters in the analysis were age, sex, education, nutrition, and home environment. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation models (SEM) were used to determine the nature of the association between cognition and academic performance. Predictive residual sum of squares was used to determine which combination of cognitive scores was needed to predict academic performance. RESULTS: In regressions of a single academic score on all five cognitive outcomes and adjusters, only Working Memory was associated with Reading (coefficient estimate = 0.36, 95% confidence interval = 0.10 to 0.63, p<0.01) and Spelling (0.46, 0.13 to 0.78, p<0.01), Visual Spatial Skills was associated with Arithmetic (0.15, 0.03 to 0.26, p<0.05), and Learning was associated with Reading (0.06, 0.00 to 0.11, p<0.05). One latent cognitive factor was identified using EFA. The SEM found a strong association between this latent cognitive ability and each academic performance measure (P<0.0001). Working memory, visual spatial ability and learning were the best predictors of academic performance. CONCLUSION: Academic performance is strongly associated with the latent variable labelled “cognitive ability” which captures most of the variation in the individual specific cognitive outcome measures. Working memory, visual spatial skills, and learning together stood out as the best combination to predict academic performance.
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spelling pubmed-35621872013-02-04 The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement Bangirana, Paul Menk, Jeremiah John, Chandy C. Boivin, Michael J. Hodges, James S. PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The contribution of different cognitive abilities to academic performance in children surviving cerebral insult can guide the choice of interventions to improve cognitive and academic outcomes. This study's objective was to identify which cognitive abilities are associated with academic performance in children after malaria with neurological involvement. METHODS: 62 Ugandan children with a history of malaria with neurological involvement were assessed for cognitive ability (working memory, reasoning, learning, visual spatial skills, attention) and academic performance (reading, spelling, arithmetic) three months after the illness. Linear regressions were fit for each academic score with the five cognitive outcomes entered as predictors. Adjusters in the analysis were age, sex, education, nutrition, and home environment. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation models (SEM) were used to determine the nature of the association between cognition and academic performance. Predictive residual sum of squares was used to determine which combination of cognitive scores was needed to predict academic performance. RESULTS: In regressions of a single academic score on all five cognitive outcomes and adjusters, only Working Memory was associated with Reading (coefficient estimate = 0.36, 95% confidence interval = 0.10 to 0.63, p<0.01) and Spelling (0.46, 0.13 to 0.78, p<0.01), Visual Spatial Skills was associated with Arithmetic (0.15, 0.03 to 0.26, p<0.05), and Learning was associated with Reading (0.06, 0.00 to 0.11, p<0.05). One latent cognitive factor was identified using EFA. The SEM found a strong association between this latent cognitive ability and each academic performance measure (P<0.0001). Working memory, visual spatial ability and learning were the best predictors of academic performance. CONCLUSION: Academic performance is strongly associated with the latent variable labelled “cognitive ability” which captures most of the variation in the individual specific cognitive outcome measures. Working memory, visual spatial skills, and learning together stood out as the best combination to predict academic performance. Public Library of Science 2013-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3562187/ /pubmed/23383342 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055653 Text en © 2013 Bangirana et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bangirana, Paul
Menk, Jeremiah
John, Chandy C.
Boivin, Michael J.
Hodges, James S.
The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title_full The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title_fullStr The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title_full_unstemmed The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title_short The Association between Cognition and Academic Performance in Ugandan Children Surviving Malaria with Neurological Involvement
title_sort association between cognition and academic performance in ugandan children surviving malaria with neurological involvement
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3562187/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23383342
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0055653
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