Adult cognitive outcomes following childhood mild traumatic brain injuries

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the adult cognitive outcomes of one versus multiple childhood mTBI and to examine the potential predictors of the outcomes. Methods: Review of neurosurgical files and hospital records, as well as community recruitment, yielded 169 participants, who were injured between ages 0–17 years and assessed between ages 18–30 years with at least five years post-injury. Each participant underwent a three-hour assessment. For data analysis, participants were grouped by type and number of injury. Results: The mTBI group exhibited some cognitive deficits but their performance fell between the control and moderate/severe TBI groups as expected. Those with one and multiple mTBI performed comparably across all cognitive domains. Cognitive outcomes were significantly predicted by estimated IQ but not by number of mTBI and age at injury. Conclusion: Despite the detected cognitive deficits, those who sustained multiple mTBI did not exhibit worse or cumulative deficits compared to those with one mTBI.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive outcomes
• childhood
• long term
• mild traumatic brain injury
• multiple mTBI

Funding

Audrey McKinlay was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Health Research Council/Accident Compensation Corporation of New Zealand and by New Zealand Lottery Health Research Grants.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Audrey McKinlay was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Health Research Council/Accident Compensation Corporation of New Zealand and by New Zealand Lottery Health Research Grants.