Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale and Motor Function Measure-20 in non ambulant SMA patients

The aim of this prospective longitudinal multi centric study was to evaluate the correlation between the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale and the 20 item version of the Motor Function Measure in non ambulant SMA children and adults at baseline and over a 12 month period. Seventy-four non-ambulant patients performed both measures at baseline and 49 also had an assessment 12 month later. At baseline the scores ranged between 0 and 40 on the Hammersmith Motor function Scale and between 3 and 45 on the Motor Function Measure 20. The correlation between the two scales was 0.733. The 12 month changes ranged between -11 and 4 for the Hammersmith and between -11 and 7 for the Motor Function Measure 20. The correlation between changes was 0.48. Our results suggest that both scales provide useful information although they appeared to work differently at the two extremes of the spectrum of abilities. The Hammersmith Motor Function Scale appeared to be more suitable in strong non ambulant patients, while the Motor Function Measures appeared to be more sensitive to capture activities and possible changes in the very weak patients, including more items capturing axial and upper limb activities. The choice of these measures in clinical trials should therefore depend on inclusion criteria and magnitude of expected changes.

Adolescent offspring of endogenous unipolar depressive parents and of normal parents

Ninety-six children aged 10-17 of unipolar endogenous depressive proband parents and 96 matched control children of well parents were investigated using DSM-IIIR diagnostic criteria. Both sets of parents were also studied. Although the rate of psychopathology was significantly higher in proband than in control children, adaptive functioning as a measure of the severity of the psychopathology did not differentiate the two groups of children. Among factors related to the mental status of the children were: severity and onset under 30 years of age of the parental depression and lifelong association of parental anxiety with depression. Personality measurements performed in children showed different personality structures in proband offspring. Data on adolescent psychopathology and personality showed little evidence of a homotypic relationship with the adult affective disorders.

Psychopathology in children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents: psychopathology rate and correlates of the severity of the psychopathology

Seventy-two proband children aged 10-17 of bipolar parents, matched with 72 control children of normal parents, were investigated using DSM-III diagnostic criteria and multiple sources of information. The psychopathology rate in children (61% in probands versus 25% in controls) was related to the impact of psychic disorders on the children's adaptive functioning. The effect of several variables describing the psychiatric status of both parents and familial environment on the severity of psychopathology in children was analysed. Disordered and non-disordered probands were compared with respect to illness characteristics of their parents, familial environment, personality traits, and IQ by means of canonical discriminant analysis.