A biochemical study on mothers of children with congenital neurodevelopmental abnormalities

A biochemical study has been undertaken on the mothers of children with a major neurodevelopmental disability, without known etiology (study group), and an appropriate control group. Two hundred seventy-four mothers were studied, 137 in each group. Social and environmental details were recorded in earch of the two major groups.

Biochemical studies included the assay of plasma and urinary amino acids and appropriate screening tests for carbohydrate and organic acid abnormalities. To introduce an element of standardization and also to enhance the opportunities for identifying possible biochemical heterozygote states, a 50-g protein mean was given to all subjects approximately three-quarters of an hour before blood and urine samples were taken.

Difference of means tests on 22 amino acids revealed 9 significant t values at the 0.05 level and all means were significantly lower in the study groups. Because of the differences noted a discriminant analysis was carried out which demonstrated an extremely high proportion of correctly classified subjects (98%) when biochemical parameters were used to attempt to classify subjects into the study or control group.