Patient's question:
My brother was born with congenital intellectual disability, but it's not too severe. Now he's 7 years old and can say some monosyllabic words like "dad" and "mom." My parents are very worried and hope that experts in this field can help me with my questions and concerns!Doctor's answer:
Causes of Intellectual Disability in Children:1. Infections and toxins, which are the primary important factors. It has been relatively well-established that maternal infections during pregnancy, such as rubella, influenza, and other viral diseases, especially in the first three months of pregnancy, can lead to congenital deformities and intellectual disabilities. Severe infections during the perinatal period, such as amniotic fluid infections, infantile encephalitis, meningitis, and sexually transmitted diseases, as well as severe pregnancy toxemia, maternal exposure to lead, mercury, chemical toxins, and drug toxicity, can all affect brain function and result in intellectual disability.
2. Trauma and physical factors, including radiation exposure (diagnostic or therapeutic), difficult labor, and birth injuries. Fetal asphyxia and hypoxia cause the most severe damage to brain nerve cells, leading to a high incidence of intellectual disability.
3. Metabolic and nutritional disorders. Various metabolic disorders, including endocrine disorders, can cause intellectual disability, most of which are related to congenital genetic diseases (with a clear relationship to congenital enzyme defects). Nutritional disorders include insufficient intake or poor absorption for various reasons.
4. Brain diseases, including brain tumors, multiple sclerosis, hereditary ataxia, and various neurodegenerative diseases leading to mental retardation.
5. Unknown prenatal factors or diseases, such as congenital brain malformations.
6. Chromosomal abnormalities, including sex chromosome and autosomal aberrations. The latter are more severe in causing mental defects than the former.