Children who sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI) do not recover as well as previously thought, Australian researchers have found. According to the Deseret News, children who suffered an injury between the ages of two and seven were more likely to show intellectual deficits later in life.
In the first study, researchers followed a group of 56 children, 40 of whom were injured while young children. Ten years later, each of the 40 children with a traumatic brain injury still showed signs of lower intelligence, scoring as much as 18 to 26 points lower than their peers on standard IQ exams. Regardless of how serious the injury was during their childhood, “recovery seemed to plateau in the five- to 10-year range,” researchers said.
Recovery could be hindered further depending on a child’s socioeconomic status, the second study showed. Researchers told CNN that lower socioeconomic status, high stress levels and low parental involvement negatively affected a child’s ability to recover after their brain injury.
Specifically, children who had a serious brain injury in their youth were less able to exhibit higher learning skills like organization, planning and reasoning.
“This is important because it counters the theory that children ‘grow into the deficits’ and suggests that even many years post-TBI, intervention may be necessary and helpful,” researchers said in a press release that accompanied the first study.
Traumatic brain injury involves only major brain trauma, not mild concussion or bumps on the head, the Deseret News noted. Most of the children in the first study were injured during car accidents or serious falls.
