Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Congenital Cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common prenatal infection and the main infectious cause of neurodevelopmental abnormalities in developed countries. Long-term neuropsychological outcome of cCMV infection is yet not well understood, and follow-up studies on adults screened for CMV at birth are few. The aim of this study was to investigate self-reported executive functioning (EF) in adults with cCMV infection in relation to uninfected controls. METHOD: All individuals from a universal newborn CMV screening study conducted in Southern Sweden and sampled 1977-85, was invited to participate in a follow-up study. 45/71 individuals (63%) with cCMV infection and 25/46 controls (54%) were enrolled. Participants were aged 34-43 years. Neurological symptoms and neuropsychiatric disabilities were documented through written reports from the original study and a semi-structured study protocol. Executive functioning was evaluated with BRIEF-A (questionnaire). RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between groups in self-reported executive functioning, although greater variability in outcomes was observed in the cCMV group. CONCLUSION: Everyday executive functioning might not be affected at the group level in adults with cCMV infection or may not be adequately captured through self-reports alone. The variability in executive functioning results suggests that individuals with cCMV infection represent a more heterogeneous group compared to the controls.
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4409148802