Blomberg, Malin Visuospatial ability in children and adolescents with PANDAS and PANS .docx Introduction: Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal infections (PANDAS) and Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) are neuropsychiatric disorders affecting children and adolescents, with symptoms of OCD and tigs together with other neuropsychiatric symptoms. Onset is always sudden, and the disease is characterized by exacerbations. The etiology is presumably autoimmune, with auto-antibodies against the basal ganglia. Whether patients with PANDAS/PANS hav disabilities in cognitive functions such as visuospatial ability is unknown. Aims: To investigate wether children and adolescents with PANDAS/PANS have impaired visuospatial ability, compared to healthy individuals of matched age and sex. Methods: 18 patients between ages 8 and 28 with PANDAS/PANS were recruited in Sweden by inviting all patients investigated using the Cunningham panel to participate. 25 healthy controls of matching age (6-19 years) and sex were recruited from two schools in Stockholm, Sweden. The tests consisted of 6 figures of different difficulty which were to be copied (max points= 12). Test results were compared using linear regression. Results: The patients had 0.5 points less than controls (CI 95% -2.19 - 1.19, p= 0.55). Conclusions: No significant differences in visuospatial ability between the groups were found. Future studies should use more sensitive measures  of visuospatial ability. PANDAS PANS, visuospatial ability children adolescents autoimmune control-group;Autoimmunity;Diseases;Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere classified;Paediatrics;Psychiatry (incl. Psychotherapy) 2017-01-27
    https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Visuospatial_ability_in_children_and_adolescents_with_PANDAS_and_PANS_docx/4591657
10.6084/m9.figshare.4591657.v1