Neuropsychological functioning of childhood trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis

• Published in: Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews 2017-01, Vol.72, p.68-86
• Main Authors: Malarbi, S., Abu-Rayya, H.M., Muscara, F., Stargatt, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Child; Children; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Executive Function; Humans; Learning; Maltreatment; Memory; Neurodevelopment; Neuropsychological Tests; Physiological stress response; PTSD; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Trauma
• ISSN: 0149-7634; 1873-7528
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.11.004

•Children exposed to familial trauma with and without PTSD show impaired cognition.•Greatest impairments in cognition are associated with a diagnosis of PTSD.•Research on children exposed to non-familial trauma is scarce. This study reviewed evidence for cognitive impairments in trauma-exposed children with and without PTSD. Twenty-seven studies were eligible for meta-analysis, totalling 1526 participants, including 412 trauma-exposed children (PTSD unknown), 300 children with PTSD (PTSD+), 323 children without PTSD (PTSD-), and 491 trauma-naive controls. Eligible studies mostly investigated familial-maltreatment trauma (k=22). Trauma-exposed children (PTSD unknown) performed more poorly overall than controls (d=−0.57). Cognitive deficits were seen in PTSD+ compared to controls, including a large effect size (ES) for general intelligence (d=−0.88), moderate ESs for language/verbal (d=−0.65), visuospatial (d=−0.53), information processing (d=−0.62), learning and memory (d=−0.67), and executive skills (d=−0.52). PTSD+ showed poorer general intelligence (d=−0.28) and visuospatial skills (d=−0.42) compared to PTSD-, whilst PTSD- showed poorer executive function (d=−0.23) and learning and memory (d=−0.61) compared to controls. In conclusion, trauma-exposed children showed cognitive deficits compared to controls, although greatest deficits were associated with PTSD diagnosis.