Relationships between urinary catecholamines and measured intelligence of eight-year-old children

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between three catecholamines, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, and the intelligence of young children as measured by the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC). Research questions explored the possible correlations between each of these catecholamines and the following scores from the K-ABC: mental processing composite; sequential; simultaneous; and verbal intelligence composite. Recruited subjects were 60 children from southeast Texas; complete data from 45 children were used for statistical comparisons. Results indicated that both urinary dopamine and norepinephrine levels were positively correlated with sequential scores of boys and epinephrine levels were negatively correlated with sequential scores for girls. Trends toward significance were found for correlations between dopamine and norepinephrine and the mental processing composite scores of boys. No correlations were found with simultaneous scores for either gender. Verbal intelligence composite scores showed significant correlation with both dopamine and norepinephrine when data from both genders were analyzed together. Norepinephrine and the verbal intelligence composite also correlated significantly for boys' data alone. In conclusion, relationships were found between catecholamines and some measures of intelligence although the number and strength of these correlations varied by gender. Additional research is recommended to replicate and extend these findings with both diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes as goals.