Children with deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP) almost grown up: general health at 16 years.

One hundred and one children (56 with and 45 without deficits in attention, motor control and perception (DAMP)), originally diagnosed at six or seven years of age and belonging to a representative cohort of children from the general population were followed up at 16 and 17 years of age. There was a significant excess of substance abuse, fractures and other accidents in the DAMP group than among controls, in addition to more motor co-ordination problems, clumsiness, and height and weight problems. Mean complex visual reaction time was significantly longer in the DAMP group, accounted for by the number of boys in the group. It appears that 10-year outcome for children who had attention problems and clumsiness during the preschool period is considerably poorer than for those who did not have such problems.