Abstract for presentation at 6th World Congress on Brain Injury

Understanding Predictors of Functional Recovery and Outcome Thirty-months....

  • Vicki Anderson, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
  • Sue Morse, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
  • Dr Cathy Catroppa, Royal Children's Hospital, Victoria, Australia
  • Flora Haritou, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
  • Prof Jeffrey Rosenfeld, The Alfred Hospital, Victoria, Australia

    • Objective: Much is now known about outcome following TBI in school-aged children, however recovery in infancy and early childhood is less well understood. The aim of this study was to examine functional outcomes following TBI during early childhood, to plot recovery over the 30 months post-injury and to identify predictors of outcome. Method: The study compared three groups of children, sustaining injuries of different severity (mild = 14, moderate = 46, severe = 24), aged 2.0 - 6.11 years at injury, to a healthy control group (n=33). Groups were comparable with respect to pre-injury adaptive and behavioral function, psychosocial characteristics, age and gender. Using a prospective, longitudinal design adaptive abilities, behavior, educational progress and everyday memory skills were investigated acutely post-injury and again at 6,12 and 30 months post-injury.
    Results: Findings suggested a strong association between injury severity and outcomes across all domains. Further, 30-month outcome was predicted by multiple factors including injury severity, family factors and pre-injury levels of function. Conclusions: children with more severe injuries and lower pre-injury adaptive abilities, and whose families are coping poorly are at greatest risk of long-term impairment in day-to-day skills, even several years post-injury.

    Conference Organiser - ICMS Pty Ltd