Neuropsychological functioning in patients with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has an affinity for the central nervous system and has been implicated in a variety of neurological impairments. Analysis of cognitive functioning in children with asymptomatic congenital CMV infection, however, has revealed no general intellectual deficits. The present study was designed to explore neuropsychological test performance in these children, compared with healthy control subjects, providing data from more sensitive measures of neurocognitive functioning. The sample consisted of 109 children diagnosed with asymptomatic congenital CMV infection and 173 control subjects who were compared on tests measuring various aspects of perceptual and motor functioning, memory, problem solving, and traditional intelligence measures. Young (41NDASH6 yr) control patients performed significantly better on the Full-Scale but not the Verbal or Performance intelligence quotient (IQ) measures than patients with asymptomatic congenital CMV infection, without accompanying consistent neuropsychological performance differences. However, no IQ or neuropsychological differences were found between groups of older children. The present study adds to the existing literature finding no reliable, lasting differences in IQ scores and adds to our knowledge by finding no reliable, lasting differences in neuropsychological test performance.