Inflicted Traumatic Brain Injury: Relationship of Developmental Outcome to Severity of Injury

Inflicted traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a frequent consequence of physical child abuse in infants and children. Twenty-eight children who were 2-42 months of age when hospitalized for moderate to severe TBI were enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal study of neurobehavioral outcome following acquired brain injury. Relative to a comparison group, the children with inflicted TBI had significant deficits in cognitive, motor and behavioral domains when assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II 1 and 3 months after the injury. Nearly half of the injured children showed persisting deficits in attention/arousal, emotional regulation and motor coordination. Greater injury severity, as indicated by lower coma scale scores, longer periods of unconsciousness and the presence of edema/cerebral infarctions was associated with poorer outcomes in all domains.