Children's development after a brain injury does not get worse
over time, a Murdoch Childrens Research Institute study has
found.
Contrary to a long held clinical view that a child's development
after a traumatic brain injury gets worse over time, the study
found after an extended recovery period, children gradually
stabilised and began to make developmental gains, regardless of
injury severity.
The study, which is published online today in Paediatrics, is
the first to systematically follow children from the time of their
traumatic brain injury (TBI) to ten years post injury. It
showed that severe injury is associated with poorest outcome, but
after three years, the gap between children with severe TBI and
peers stabilises.
Researchers examined 53 children 10 years after experiencing a
TBI, studying the social and behavioural skills of children who had
experienced a TBI between the ages of two and seven years of
age.
Researchers found in the initial period after their brain injury,
while the brain copes with the impact of injury and begins to
recover - usually about three years - the children didn't make any
developmental gains, however after this period they started to make
age-appropriate developmental gains, right up until at least 10
years post insult.
Lead researcher, Professor Vicki Anderson, from Murdoch Childrens
Research Institute, said the results are important because it
queries the current viewpoint about children's development after
brain injuries and shows children don't get further behind their
peers.
"There is a clinical view that young children who suffer a brain
injury get worse as time goes on, and that the severity of the head
injury, dictates the outcome. But in fact, what we found was
this wasn't the case," Prof Anderson said.
"The study questions this speculation that children 'grow into
deficits' with time since injury. Rather, it appears that,
after a prolonged recovery period, these children gradually
stabilise and begin to make some developmental gains, suggesting
that even many years post insult, intervention may be effective and
helpful."
"Although this does not suggest that children "catch up" to peers,
it does imply that the gap does not widen during this
period."