PEDIATRICS Vol. 36 No. 3 September 1965, pp. 465-519
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow P3Rs: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when P3Rs are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mosier, H. D.
Right arrow Articles by Dingman, H. F.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mosier, H. D., Jr.
Right arrow Articles by Dingman, H. F.

PHYSICAL GROWTH IN MENTAL DEFECTIVES

A Study in an Institutionalized Population

H. David Mosier Jr. M.D.1, Herbert J. Grossman M.D.1, and Harvey F. Dingman Ph.D.1

1 Illinois State Pediatric Institute, Department of Mental Health, State of Illinois, and the Department of Pediatrics, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago; Pacific State Hospital, Pomona, California

A cross-sectional survey of ten physical measures was carried out on 2,472 institutionalized mentally defective patients. This report gives the results in the Caucasian segment numbering 2,027. The means and standard deviations for each measure are shown by sex, age, I.Q. level, and diagnostic category. Body weight, crown-heel height, symphysis-heel height, biacromial diameter, and bicristal diameter had smaller dimensions than normal in both sexes and the degree of impairment related to the degree of I.Q. deficit. No differences among diagnostic categories in degrees of stunting were noted with the exception of Mongolism in which stunting was greater than in the other categories. Shortening of the lower extremities accounted for this difference. In contrast, the measurements of the width of the shoulder and pelvic girdles and length of the spine showed in mongolism no differences from the remaining diagnostic categories.

The literature on growth effects of experimental brain lesions was reviewed. These reports indicate that various known physiologic mechanisms may be involved especially after certain hypothalamic and amygdaloid lesions. Further work is needed to elucidate the effect of brain lesions on the growth-hormone mechanism.

On the basis of the experiments with brain lesions and observations in the human, it is concluded that the way in which brain injury produces stunted growth in the human is unclear. Further work will be needed on genetic, nutritional, neurophysiological, and endocrine aspects of physical growth before this mechanism can be defined.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 BrainHome page
I. A. J. van Kooten, S. J. M. C. Palmen, P. von Cappeln, H. W. M. Steinbusch, H. Korr, H. Heinsen, P. R. Hof, H. van Engeland, and C. Schmitz
Neurons in the fusiform gyrus are fewer and smaller in autism
Brain, April 1, 2008; 131(4): 987 - 999.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 CLIN PEDIATRHome page
S.L. Hammar, L.S. Wright, and D.L. Jensen
Sex Education For The Retarded Adolescent: A Survey of Parental Attitudes and Methods of Management in Fifty Adolescent Retardates
Clinical Pediatrics, November 1, 1967; 6(11): 621 - 627.
[PDF]