Microcephaly measurement in adults and its association with clinical variables

Nicole Rezende da  Costa; Livia Mancine; Rogerio Salvini; Juliana de Melo Teixeira; Roberta Diehl  Rodriguez; Renata Elaine Paraizo Leite; Camila Nascimento; Carlos Augusto  Pasqualucci; Ricardo  Nitrini; Wilson Jacob-Filho; Beny  Lafer; Lea Tenenholz Grinberg; Claudia Kimie  Suemoto; Paula Villela  Nunes

doi:10.11606/s1518-8787.2022056004175

Authors

Nicole Rezende da Costa Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8420-1680
Livia Mancine Universidade Federal de Goiás. Instituto de Informática. Goiânia, GO, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4123-4861
Rogerio Salvini Universidade Federal de Goiás. Instituto de Informática. Goiânia, GO, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8889-6654
Juliana de Melo Teixeira Universidade Federal de Goiás. Instituto de Informática. Goiânia, GO, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7731-9464
Roberta Diehl Rodriguez Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6544-7861
Renata Elaine Paraizo Leite Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5878-398X
Camila Nascimento Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8170-7635
Carlos Augusto Pasqualucci Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6608-2473
Ricardo Nitrini Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5721-1525
Wilson Jacob-Filho Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2290-4492
Beny Lafer Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6132-9999
Lea Tenenholz Grinberg V University of California. Memory and Aging Center. San Francisco, California, United States https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6809-0618
Claudia Kimie Suemoto Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5942-4778
Paula Villela Nunes Universidade de São Paulo. Faculdade de Medicina. São Paulo, SP, Brasil https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5323-2110

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2022056004175

Keywords:

Adult, Microcephaly, classification, Cephalometry, Dementia, Data Mining

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To establish a microcephaly cut-off size in adults using head circumference as an indirect measure of brain size, as well as to explore factors associated with microcephaly via data mining. METHODS: In autopsy studies, head circumference was measured with an inelastic tape placed around the skull. Total brain volume was also directly measured. A linear regression was used to determine the association of head circumference with brain volume and clinical variables. Microcephaly was defined as head circumference that were two standard deviations below the mean of significant clinical variables. We further applied an association rule mining to find rules associating microcephaly with several sociodemographic and clinical variables. RESULTS: In our sample of 2,508 adults, the mean head circumference was 55.3 ± 2.7cm. Head circumference was related to height, cerebral volume, and sex (p < 0.001 for all). Microcephaly was present in 4.7% of the sample (n = 119). Out of 34,355 association rules, we found significant relationships between microcephaly and a clinical dementia rating (CDR) > 0.5 with an informant questionnaire on cognitive decline in the elderly (IQCODE) ≥ 3.4 (confidence: 100% and lift: 5.6), between microcephaly and a CDR > 0.5 with age over 70 years (confidence: 42% and lift: 2.4), and microcephaly and males (confidence: 68.1% and lift: 1.3). CONCLUSION: Head circumference was related to cerebral volume. Due to its low cost and easy use, head circumference can be used as a screening test for microcephaly, adjusting it for gender and height. Microcephaly was associated with dementia at old age.

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Microcephaly measurement in adults and its association with clinical variables

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