Somatic Development Disorders in Children and Adolescents Affected by Syndromes and Diseases Associated with Neurodysfunction and Hydrocephalus Treated/Untreated Surgically

Background: This study was conducted to evaluate the co-occurrence of hydrocephalus treated/untreated surgically and congenital nervous system disorders or neurological syndromes with symptoms visible since childhood, and with somatic development disorders, based on significant data obtained during admission to a neurological rehabilitation unit for children and adolescents. Methods: The study applied a retrospective analysis of data collected during hospitalization of 327 children and adolescents, aged 4−18 years, all presenting congenital disorders of the nervous system and/or neurological syndromes associated with at least one neurodysfunction that existed from early childhood. To allow the identification of individuals with somatic development disorders in the group of children and adolescents with hydrocephalus treated/untreated surgically, the adopted criteria considered the z-score values for body height, body weight, head circumference, body mass index, and head circumference index. Results: Treated/untreated hydrocephalus was observed in the study group at the rates of 8% and 0.9%, respectively. Among 239 patients with cerebral palsy, 9 (3.8%) had surgically treated hydrocephalus, 17 (70.8%) of 24 patients with neural tube defects also had hydrocephalus treated with surgery, and 3 (12.5%) of 24 patients with neural tube defects had untreated hydrocephalus. This medical condition was a more frequent comorbidity in subjects with neural tube defects compared with those with cerebral palsy (p < 0.001). Subjects with untreated hydrocephalus most frequently presented macrocephaly (p < 0.001), including absolute macrocephaly (p = 0.001), and with tall stature (p = 0.007). Excessive body mass co-occurred more frequently with surgically untreated hydrocephalus, but the relationship was not statistically significant (p = 0.098). Conclusions: Surgically treated hydrocephalus occurred in patients with cerebral palsy and neural tube defects, and untreated hydrocephalus was present only in patients with neural tube defects. Untreated hydrocephalus negatively changed the course of individual development in the studied group of children, in contrast to surgically treated hydrocephalus.