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Attention-deficit hyperactivity symptomatology after traumatic brain injury: a prospective study
J E Max1, S Arndt, C S Castillo
1Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.
Objective:
To study prospectively the course of attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADH) symptomatology in children and adolescents after traumatic brain injury (TBI). It was hypothesized that ADH symptomatology would be significantly related to severity of injury.
Method:
Subjects were children (n = 50) aged 6 to 14 years at the time they were hospitalized after TBI. The study used a prospective follow-up design. Assessments of preinjury psychiatric, behavioral, socioeconomic, family functioning, and family psychiatric history status were conducted. Severity of injury was assessed by standard clinical scales, and neuroimaging was analyzed.
Results:
The main finding of this study was that change in ADH symptomatology in the first 2 years after TBI in children and adolescents was significantly related to severity of injury. Overall ADH symptomatology during the study was significantly related to a measure of family dysfunction when family psychiatric history, socioeconomic status, and severity of injury were controlled.
Conclusion:
The presence of a positive "dose-response" relationship between severity of injury and change in ADH symptoms, present from the 3-month assessment, was consistent with an effect directly related to brain damage.