AUTHOR=Duquette Peter J. , Gipson Debbie S. , Hooper Stephen R. 

TITLE=Differential Attention Functioning in Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=16

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2022.897131

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2022.897131

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objective</title><p>To compare specific attention functions for school-age children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) to those of a typically developing control group.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A cross-sectional study examined attention dimensions for children and adolescents with CKD (<italic>n</italic> = 30) in comparison to a typically developing control group (<italic>n</italic> = 41). The CKD group consisted of those receiving maintenance dialysis (<italic>n</italic> = 15) and those with mild/moderate CKD treated conservatively (<italic>n</italic> = 15). Measures aligning with Mirsky’s conceptual multidimensional model of attention were selected to compare groups across five dimensions of attention: Focus/Execute, Sustain, Stability, Shift, and Encode.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Significant group differences were revealed, with the CKD group performing worse than controls on the Focus/Execute, Sustain, and Encode dimensions. The CKD group also had a larger proportion of children with scores one standard deviation or more below the mean on the Shift and Encode domains, suggesting an at-risk level of functioning in these dimensions. Secondary analyses showed disease severity to be correlated with worse attention functions for children with CKD.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Children with CKD may be vulnerable to subtle, specific deficits in numerous attention dimensions relative to their typically developing peers, particularly for those with more severe disease.</p></sec>