Recovery of Working Memory Following Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Longitudinal Analysis

ABSTRACT

In a prospective longitudinal study, the trajectory of verbal and visual-spatial working memory (WM) development was examined 2-, 6-, 12-, and 24-months following complicated-mild to severe pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI; n = 55) relative to an orthopedic injury comparison group (n = 47). Individual growth curve modeling revealed an interaction of age, severity, and time for verbal, but not visual-spatial WM. The youngest children with severe TBI had the lowest scores and slowest verbal WM growth. WM outcome is best understood in light of age at injury and TBI severity. Findings support the early vulnerability hypothesis and highlight the need for long-term follow-up.

Funding

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health R01 NS046308 awarded to LEC. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the granting institute. The authors report no financial or other conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the National Institutes of Health R01 NS046308 awarded to LEC. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the granting institute. The authors report no financial or other conflict of interest.