Endocrine and Psychological Evaluation of Adopted Children
Stopped early
Conditions studied: Psychosocial Adjustment
In brief
The deleterious effects of institutionalized care on the health and growth and development of children have been described. Early studies have shown that the effects of institutionalized care on a child's growth and development may not be fully reversible. The exact mechanism through which these early stresses affect bio-behavioral outcomes has yet to be determined. A likely mechanism in which environmental influences could regulate both biological and psychosocial development may be through the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA). Recent advances in the area of brain research have enriched our understanding of the importance of early life experiences on physical, cognitive, developmental, mental and behavioral health outcomes. Children adopted from orphanages in countries as diverse as the former Soviet Union and Guatemala provide an opportunity to learn more about the effect of deprivation on neuro-endocrine function, physical growth, and developmental outcomes, including cognitive, and behavioral measures. This protocol proposes to study the changes of the HPA axis of the post-institutionalized adoptive child, ages 10 months to 4 years, which may help elucidate the etiology of the complex findings in this population. We will recruit 60 adopted children who experienced institutionalized care and were recently adopted by a US family and 60 controls. Our primary hypothesis is that a number of adopted children will have biochemical evidence of stress-induced activation of the HPA axis and sympathetic adrenal medullary system. HPA dysfunction will be evident by abnormal diurnal salivary cortisol levels, increased cortisol and/or catecholamine excretion in 24 hours urine measurements, and dysregulation of autonomic nervous system activity We also hypothesize that many of these responses will not normalize with time and that there will be a correlation between these responses and growth and behavioral disorders. In addition, we will examine nutritional intake and sleep patterns to determine their effect on growth and developmental outcome.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00368043
- Run by
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
- People needed
- 38
- Starts
- 2006-08-18
- Expected to finish
- 2015-03-30
- Last updated by the study team
- 2019-12-17
Who can join
Age: 1 and older, up to 4. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may not qualify if…
- Children with known documented growth hormone deficiency, and/or history of chronic illness such as renal failure, severe chronic lung disease (restrictive, obstructive) diabetes, hypothyroidism.
- Children with known genetic or chromosomal abnormalities.
- Children with medical conditions known to be associated with permanent developmental delay (i.e. fetal alcohol syndrome).
- Children with chronic medication use.
- Children with behavior problems receiving psychiatric treatment
- Children with documented infectious diseases (AIDS, Hepatitis, etc).
- Children with clinical signs of puberty; only children in Tanner-I pubertal stage will be allowed in the study.
Where it is running
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike — Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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