PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Mustafayev, Revan
AU  - Seyid-Mammadova, Tarana
AU  - Kennedy, Colin R
AU  - Ertem, Ilgi Ozturk
AU  - Forsyth, Brian
AU  - Weber, Martin
TI  - Perinatal encephalopathy, the syndrome of intracranial hypertension and associated diagnostic labels in the Commonwealth of Independent States: a systematic review
AID  - 10.1136/archdischild-2018-315994
DP  - 2020 Oct 01
TA  - Archives of Disease in Childhood
PG  - 921--926
VI  - 105
IP  - 10
4099  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/105/10/921.short
4100  - http://adc.bmj.com/content/105/10/921.full
SO  - Arch Dis Child2020 Oct 01; 105
AB  - Background The WHO reports excessive rates of ill-defined neurological diagnoses and ineffective and potentially harmful drug treatments in children in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Collectively termed perinatal encephalopathy and the syndrome of intracranial hypertension (PE-SIH), these diagnoses are important contributors to perceived childhood morbidity and disability in the CIS. A systematic compilation of information on PE-SIH is lacking.Methods We systematically reviewed publications between 1970 and 2020 on PE-SIH in Azerbaijani, English, Russian and Ukrainian languages and summarised information on PE-SIH.Results We identified 30 publications (70% in Russian) published 1976–2017. The diagnosis of PE-SIH was either based on unreported criteria (67% of reports), non-specific clinical features of typically developing children or those with common developmental disorders (20% of reports) or cranial ultrasound (13% of reports). The reported proportion of children with PE-SIH in the study samples ranged from 31% to 99%. There were few published studies on reassessments of children diagnosed with PE-SIH, and these did not confirm neurological disease in the majority of children. Treatments included multiple unlicenced drugs without established effectiveness and with potential unwanted effects.Conclusion This review suggests that PE-SIH is a medical diagnostic label that is used in numerous children without substantive associated disease. The diagnosis and treatment of PE-SIH is a multidimensional, iatrogenic, clinical and public health problem in the CIS. With increasing use of evidence-based medicine guidelines in the region, it is hoped that PE-SIH will gradually disappear, but actions to accelerate this change are nevertheless needed.