Long-term psychiatric outcomes in youth with enterovirus A71 central nervous system involvement

Long-term neurological and neurodevelopmental sequelae are a concerning issue for people with Enterovirus A71 (EV-A71) central nervous system (CNS) infection. Unfortunately, no longitudinal prospective clinical study has systematically investigated the consequences of EV-A71 CNS infection during early life on the later development of other psychiatric disorders. In this naturalistic longitudinal follow-up design, we followed forty-three youth, who got EV-A71 CNS involvement 6–18 years ago and were enrolled in other EV-A71 clinical studies then. Their psychiatric presentation, emotional/behavioral problems, and cognitive issues were examined using a psychiatrist-conducted diagnostic interview, parent- and self-rated questionnaires, and neuropsychological tests, respectively. We compared the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in youth with EV-A71 CNS involvement to a nationally representative cohort. Emotion/behavior and cognition in EV-A71-CNS-infected youth were compared to those in a matched community-based sample of healthy controls and youth with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Compared to a national sample (absolute ADHD prevalence 10.1%), youth with EV-A71 CNS involvement had three times the odds of receiving an ADHD diagnosis (standardized prevalence ratio, 95% CI = 1.8, 4.2; absolute ADHD prevalence 34.9%). No other psychiatric diagnoses were more common in EV-A71-CNS-infected youth. Compared to community-based ADHD youth, EV-A71-CNS-infected youth with psychiatric disorders showed comparable core ADHD symptoms, opposition/defiance, autistic features, and suboptimal sustained attention performance (based on the Conners’ Continuous Performance Test), all of which were more severe than healthy controls. EV-A71-CNS-infected youth without psychiatric disorders showed comparable autistic features to EV-A71-CNS-infected youth with psychiatric disorders and ADHD youth. EV-A71 CNS involvement may cause long-term, adverse psychiatric outcomes that develop into an ADHD diagnosis alongside social/communication/emotion problems and autistic features. We recommend earlier identification and intervention of these problems among these children.