Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jun 29;8(1):9828.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-28165-8.

The Predictive Value of Head Circumference Growth during the First Year of Life on Early Child Traits

Caroline Dupont  1 , Natalie Castellanos-Ryan  2   3 , Jean R Séguin  2   3 , Gina Muckle  4   5 , Marie-Noëlle Simard  2   3 , Gabriel D Shapiro  6 , Catherine M Herba  2   3   7 , William D Fraser  8   9 , Sarah Lippé  2   3
Affiliations

The Predictive Value of Head Circumference Growth during the First Year of Life on Early Child Traits

Caroline Dupont et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Atypical head circumference (HC) growth has been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. However, whether it is associated with specific aspects of development in early childhood in the general population is unknown. The objective of this study was to assess the predictive value of HC growth as an early biomarker of behavioral traits. We examined longitudinal associations between HC growth from 0 to 12 months and temperament, cognitive, and motor development at 24 months. A subsample of healthy children (N = 756) was drawn from the 3D (Design, Develop, Discover) cohort study. Early HC growth was modeled with latent growth curve analysis. Greater postnatal HC growth predicted lower temperamental effortful control and lower surgency/extraversion in boys. HC growth did not predict cognitive or fine motor scores, but did predict greater gross motor skills in boys. No significant effect of HC growth was found in girls. This study is the first to demonstrate an association between postnatal HC growth and specific aspects of child development in a healthy population. Results suggest HC growth overshadows brain mechanisms involved in behavioral traits in early infancy. Whether links are maintained throughout development and the mechanisms involved correspond to traits found in atypical populations remains to be studied.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Recruitment and Follow-up in the 3D Study and Creating the Head Circumference Subsample. Note: GA = Gestational age.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Growth in Head Circumference (HC) from Birth to 12 months.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Nickl-Jockschat T, et al. Brain structure anomalies in autism spectrum disorder—a meta-analysis of VBM studies using anatomic likelihood estimation. Human Brain Mapping. 2012;33:1470–1489. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21299. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Seidman LJ, Valera EM, Makris N. Structural brain imaging of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Biol. Psychiatry. 2005;57:1263–1272. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2004.11.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baglio F, et al. Abnormal development of sensory-motor, visual temporal and parahippocampal cortex in children with learning disabilities and borderline intellectual functioning. Front. Hum. Neurosci. 2014;8:806. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00806. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fairchild G, et al. Brain Structure abnormalities in early-onset and adolescent-onset conduct disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry. 2011;168:624–633. doi: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2010.10081184. - DOI - PubMed
    1. van Dyck LI, Morrow EM. Genetic control of postnatal human brain growth. Current Opinion in Neurology. 2017;30:114–124. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000000405. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Grants and funding