Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

What is the most common cause of death and disability for children and adolescents? According to the Centers for Disease Control, the answer is traumatic brain injury (TBI). Researchers are now finding that for those children who survive a blow to the head or even sustain a mild concussion, the effects of TBI can persist for years. Because the brains of children and adolescents are in the developmental stages, TBI can impede proper mental development, leading to psychological disabilities or a combination of mental disabilities.

According to two UCLA professors who quantified nearly 20 years of data from TBI studies, childhood brain injuries may affect the individual long-term or even permanently. The impact of TBI on these individuals turned out to be worse than expected. The study showed that children and adolescents who suffered from a severe TBI fell further behind their peers than the researchers expected.

Doctors typically measure the severity of a TBI with the Glascow Coma Scale (GCS), which measures the patient’s eye and pupil response, motor responses, and verbal communication skills. In the UCLA study, researchers examined all three levels of TBI – mild, moderate, and severe – and conducted follow-up exams that tested more than a dozen neurocognition features.

The study revealed that the more severe the TBI, “the worse the neurocognitive outcome over time, especially on measures of general intellectual functioning and brain processing.”

The study also showed that children with TBI experienced a moderate level of recovery with intellect and attention, but that difficulties lingered even two years after the injury. Even after two years, children with severe TBI showed “significant problems” with their IQ, mental processing speed and attention, and immediate and delayed verbal memory.

“The good news is that the studies showed that children with mild traumatic brain injuries and concussions may show some difficulties in cognition initially, but the effects are subtle and typically diminish over time,” said Talin Babikian, the study’s lead author.

She also noted that a child’s age at the time of the TBI is an important factor because younger children have more developmental time ahead of them. Mental performance can be greatly impeded by a TBI, so younger children who sustained severe TBI generally fared worse than older, more mentally developed children.

According to Babikian, one important lesson to take away from the study is the importance prevention and protection. “The public health implication of this research is a reminder of the importance of the use of protective measures to minimize the effects of a brain injury, when one does occur, as well as prevention through consistent use of helmets and seatbelts,” she said.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 11:49 am and is filed under brain injury. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.