Sensory evoked potentials in infants with Down syndrome

Aim: To investigate the sensory functions of the peripheral to central pathways in infants with Down syndrome (DS) by sensory evoked potentials. Methods: Fifty-five infants, 30 DS infants and 25 controls, were examined by multimodal evoked potentials, including brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), visual evoked potentials (VEP) and short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP). Results: No obvious difference was found in the peak latencies between the two groups for BAEP. Nine children with DS showed abnormal BAEP; six had hearing loss and three had prolonged wave I latencies. For VEP, the peak latencies of P₂ and N₂ were significantly longer and the amplitudes were smaller in the DS group than in the control group. Of the 30 infants with DS, five had significantly prolonged P₂ latencies and two had lower amplitudes. In SSEP, the mean latencies of N₂₀ and the interpeak latencies of N₁₃-N₂₀ of the infants with DS showed apparent prolongation compared to the controls. Seven of 30 (23.3%) DS patients had prolonged N₂₀ latencies.

Conclusion: Our results indicate that various sensory deficits occur in patients with DS during the first year of life.