Children with ADHD at increased risk of disability following brain injury.

A new study has found that children with ADHD who suffer a traumatic brain injury are more likely to have significant disabilities after that injury than children without ADHD. The study, The impact of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder on recovery from mild traumatic brain injury, compared data on children with and without ADHD who had suffered traumatic brain injuries.

The researchers found that a quarter of the children with ADHD had a moderate disability in comparison to only two percent of the kids who did not have ADHD. Additionally, after roughly 25 weeks, only 56% of children with ADHD had made a full recovery.  In comparison, the vast majority of children without ADHD had fully recovered within approximately seven weeks.

The study’s authors made the following recommendations:

• “Prevention of TBI in children with ADHD is important because outcomes can be more severe in these children than in children without ADHD. The authors suggest that perhaps children with ADHD should be steered away from engaging in sports or hobbies that carry increased risks of sustaining a TBI.”
• “Clinical management of closed head injury may have to be adjusted when treating children with ADHD, perhaps by introducing better monitoring and initiating more intensive treatment and rehabilitation.”
• “Physicians must counsel families of children with ADHD about expected outcomes following mild TBI.”

The study is published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics.

More information and the source of the above quotes can be found at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130625121146.htm

©Mary M Conneely T/A Advocacy in Action