Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37211832›Full record

Trial reportThe American journal of psychiatry2023

A Comprehensive Multilevel Analysis of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Causal Effects on Recovery From Early Severe Deprivation.

Lucy S King, Katherine L Guyon-Harris, Emilio A Valadez, Anca Radulescu, Nathan A Fox, Charles A Nelson, Charles H Zeanah, Kathryn L Humphreys

Open access · greenAbstract readRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The American journal of psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed
6.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Trial
  4. Article
  5. Patterns of brain-wide associations reflect socioeconomics.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Postnatal maternal care impacts hypothalamicbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Lucy S KingDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Katherine L Guyon-HarrisDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Emilio A ValadezDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Anca RadulescuDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Nathan A FoxDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Charles A NelsonDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Charles H ZeanahDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
Kathryn L HumphreysDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans (King, Zeanah, Humphreys); Department of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh (Guyon-Harris); Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park (Valadez, Fox); Institute of Child Development, Bucharest, Romania (Radulescu); Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston (Nelson); Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass. (Nelson); Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn. (Humphreys).
University of Maryland, Baltimore · US

Funding

Overall: Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at VanderbiltP50HD103537 · NICHD · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Lea K Davis · 2020 to 2026
$10.3M
The Relation Between Early Psychosocial Deprivation and Mental Health at 12 YearsR01MH091363 · NIMH · UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK · PI FOX, NATHAN A, NELSON, CHARLES ALEXANDER · 2010 to 2024
$9.2M
Hypocretin Gene Transfer and NarcolepsyR21HL091363 · NHLBI · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · PI SHIROMANI, PRIYATTAM J. · 2008 to 2009
$373k
Children's socioemotional and cognitive development in the context of psychosocial neglect and enrichment: The roles of parent and child geneticsF32HD105385 · NICHD · TULANE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA · PI KING, LUCY SOBEY · 2021 to 2021
$43k
NHLBI NIH HHS R21 HL091363NICHD NIH HHS F32 HD105385NICHD NIH HHS P50 HD103537NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH091363
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveThe Bucharest Early Intervention Project is the first randomized controlled trial of foster care as an alternative to institutional care. The authors synthesized data from nearly 20 years of assessments of the trial to determine the overall intervention effect size across time points and developmental domains. The goal was to quantify the overall effect of the foster care intervention on children's outcomes and examine sources of variation in this effect, including domain, age, and sex assigned at birth.

methodsAn intent-to-treat approach was used to examine the causal effects of the randomized controlled trial for 136 children residing in institutions in Bucharest, Romania (baseline age, 6-31 months) who were randomly assigned to either foster care (N=68) or care as usual (N=68). At ages 30, 42, and 54 months and 8, 12, and 16-18 years, children were assessed for IQ, physical growth, brain electrical activity (EEG), and symptoms of five types of psychopathology.

resultsParticipants provided 7,088 observations across follow-up waves. Children assigned to foster care had better cognitive and physical outcomes and less severe psychopathology than did those who received care as usual. The magnitude of these effect sizes remained stable across development. The foster care intervention most influenced IQ and disorders of attachment/social relatedness.

conclusionsYoung children benefit from placement in families after institutional care. The benefits of foster care for previously institutionalized children were remarkably stable across development.

Indexed as

Child, InstitutionalizedPsychopathologyAdolescentChildChild, PreschoolEarly Intervention, EducationalFemaleFoster Home CareHumansInfantMaleMultilevel AnalysisChild/Adolescent PsychiatryCognition/Learning/MemoryFoster Home CareInstitutionalized ChildrenOrphanages

Identifiers

PMID37211832
PMCPMC10751847
OpenAlexW4377220892

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.