Cognitive and Adaptive Functioning of CTNNB1 Syndrome Patients: A Comparison With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Cerebral Palsy.

Abstract

Background: The CTNNB1 syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder considered an ultra-rare disease, first discovered in 2012. Given its comorbidity of symptoms with more prevalent diseases, such as ASD or CP, many CTNNB1 syndrome patients had previously received those diagnosis. Therefore, the aim of this study is to establish differences on the cognitive and adaptive functioning of the CTNNB1 syndrome compared with ASD and CP.

Methods: A total of 55 paediatric patients-25 CTNNB1 syndrome, 17 ASD and 13 PC-were assessed with an extensive protocol for neuropsychological domains through in-person assessments and online meetings for the parent-reported questionnaire.

Results: No cognitive differences were found among verbal tasks between groups, even though CTNNB1 syndrome patients obtained significantly lower scores in visuospatial and logical tasks. Regarding adaptive functioning, ASD patients outperformed the CTNNB1 syndrome group in most domains, whereas CP patients did not differ as much, obtaining only lower scores in gross motor ability. Externalizing problems were more prevalent in the CTNNB1 syndrome group compared with the control groups. Also, correlations indicated improvement of cognitive and adaptive functioning over the years for the CTNNB1 syndrome patients.

Conclusions: This is the first study to compare the cognitive and adaptive functioning of CTNNB1 syndrome patients with control diseases and detect significant difference. Although intellectual disability is one of the main manifestations of the CTNNB1 syndrome, patients performed better on verbal cognitive tasks than in visuospatial and logical thinking exercises, while adaptive functioning performances did not differ from control groups.