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An overview of attention deficits after paediatric traumatic brain injury
Tim Ginstfeldt1, Ingrid Emanuelson
1Department of Pediatrics, Institution for Clinical Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Insights
Children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) most often experience deficits in divided and sustained attention. Attention span is most resilient, with deficits often persisting into adulthood.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pediatric Traumatology
Background:
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children can impact various cognitive functions.
- Attention is a complex cognitive process with distinct domains, including sustained, selective, shifting, and divided attention, as well as attention span.
- Understanding the specific attention deficits post-TBI is crucial for effective rehabilitation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the specific types of attention deficits occurring in children following traumatic brain injury.
- To identify which domains of attention are most vulnerable after pediatric TBI.
Main Methods:
- A systematic review of MEDLINE articles published between 1991 and 2009.
- Keywords included 'attention', 'child', 'traumatic', 'brain', and 'injury'.
- Manual cross-referencing of identified articles was performed.
Main Results:
- Divided and sustained attention were the most frequently affected domains in children with TBI.
- Attention span appeared most resistant to TBI-related deficits.
- Shifting and selective attention deficits fell between these extremes.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric TBI affects different attention domains to varying extents.
- Assessment tools may differ in their sensitivity to detecting attention deficits.
- Standardized definitions of attention domains and TBI are needed to advance research and rehabilitation.
Purpose:
Attention could be categorized into sustained, selective, shifting, divided and attention span. The primary objective was to evaluate the type of attention deficits that occurs after paediatric traumatic brain injury.
Methods:
Keywords were used such as 'attention', 'child', 'traumatic', 'brain' and 'injury' on MEDLINE articles published in 1991-2009. Articles found through MEDLINE were manually cross-referenced.
Main Outcomes And Results:
Out of the examined categorizes, divided and sustained attention seem to be the most vulnerably, frequently displaying deficits in the children with TBI. Attention span seemed to be the most resistant and the shifting and selective categories falling somewhere in between. Most of the recovery is expected within the first year post-injury, even if some individuals continue to improve for years, and deficits often persist into adulthood.
Conclusions:
The attention domains are not affected to the same extent by TBI and this should be taken into consideration when evaluating a child. The commonly used tests also seem to differ in how sensitive they are in detecting deficits. The definition of attention domains and TBI would benefit to be stricter and agreed upon, to further facilitate research and rehabilitation programmes.
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