Badania IQ u chorych na fenyloketonurię w latach siedemdziesiÄ tych i osiemdziesiÄ tych XX wieku

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is currently regarded as a model example of an inborn error of metabolism. An important parameter of the assessment of patients is analysis of intellectual functioning. The present article is the continuation of the work whose first part was concerned with the 1950s and 1960s. It deals with the development of research in the 1970s and 1980s. It was a period when, due to the doubts regarding the quality of the research on the effectiveness of diet, multicentre reports Collaborative Study of Children Treated for Phenylketonuria began to appear. In this way researchers were trying to avoid statistically insignificant conclusions drawn on the basis of small or atypical samples. Attempts were also made to standardize the methodology of the research to make it more reliable. These reports, as well as the parallel work done in Europe, confirmed the necessity of the diet as the only effective therapy. The Polish contribution to the field must be emphasised - Cabalska's work was important in the debate about the continuation of treatment in older patients.