Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury

Judgment of the cognitive deficits after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury was for long time under the influence of the so called Kennard's principle: the younger the child at the time of injury, the better the outcome. The purpose of our study was to assess cognitive deficits several...

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Main Authors: Janez Ravnik, Matej Lipovšek, Alenka Sever, Katarina Bračič
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Slovenian Psychologists' Association 2004-08-01
Series:Psihološka Obzorja
Subjects:
Online Access:http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2004_2/ravnik_et_al.pdf
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author Janez Ravnik
Matej Lipovšek
Alenka Sever
Katarina Bračič
author_facet Janez Ravnik
Matej Lipovšek
Alenka Sever
Katarina Bračič
author_sort Janez Ravnik
collection DOAJ
description Judgment of the cognitive deficits after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury was for long time under the influence of the so called Kennard's principle: the younger the child at the time of injury, the better the outcome. The purpose of our study was to assess cognitive deficits several years after severe traumatic brain injury in childhood, to evaluate the effect of age at injury and usefulness of various clinical factors for long-term outcome prediction. Sixteen children or adolescents, who experienced severe head injury at least six years ago, were neuropsychologically tested. Despite the absence of neurological deficits in the majority, deficits in various cognitive functions were still detected in one eight to one half of participants. Memory was most frequently affected. Those who were at the time of injury more than six years old, had on average better results on almost all tests. Age had the greatest impact on deficits of the frontal lobe functions. Clinical factors were of limited predictive value, length of coma was the most useful. The results indicate tendency that is opposite to the Kennard's principle: the younger the child, the worse are the consequences of traumatic brain injury. Children who had such injury need appropriate long-term treatment of their cognitive deficits.
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spelling doaj.art-6b182e74e3624087aa5d106c82bd1bc12022-12-21T23:12:37ZengSlovenian Psychologists' AssociationPsihološka Obzorja2350-51412004-08-011327181148Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injuryJanez RavnikMatej LipovšekAlenka SeverKatarina BračičJudgment of the cognitive deficits after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury was for long time under the influence of the so called Kennard's principle: the younger the child at the time of injury, the better the outcome. The purpose of our study was to assess cognitive deficits several years after severe traumatic brain injury in childhood, to evaluate the effect of age at injury and usefulness of various clinical factors for long-term outcome prediction. Sixteen children or adolescents, who experienced severe head injury at least six years ago, were neuropsychologically tested. Despite the absence of neurological deficits in the majority, deficits in various cognitive functions were still detected in one eight to one half of participants. Memory was most frequently affected. Those who were at the time of injury more than six years old, had on average better results on almost all tests. Age had the greatest impact on deficits of the frontal lobe functions. Clinical factors were of limited predictive value, length of coma was the most useful. The results indicate tendency that is opposite to the Kennard's principle: the younger the child, the worse are the consequences of traumatic brain injury. Children who had such injury need appropriate long-term treatment of their cognitive deficits.http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2004_2/ravnik_et_al.pdftraumatic brain injuryneuropsychological testscognitive functionsmemoryintelligence
spellingShingle Janez Ravnik
Matej Lipovšek
Alenka Sever
Katarina Bračič
Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
Psihološka Obzorja
traumatic brain injury
neuropsychological tests
cognitive functions
memory
intelligence
title Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
title_full Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
title_fullStr Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
title_full_unstemmed Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
title_short Cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
title_sort cognitive consequences several years after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury
topic traumatic brain injury
neuropsychological tests
cognitive functions
memory
intelligence
url http://psiholoska-obzorja.si/arhiv_clanki/2004_2/ravnik_et_al.pdf
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AT katarinabracic cognitiveconsequencesseveralyearsafterseverepediatrictraumaticbraininjury