Article

This study sought to examine the effects of mild traumatic brain
injury (TBI) on executive functions in school-aged children.
METHOD: The prospective, longitudinal study involved 8-15 year old children, 186
with mild TBI and 99 with mild orthopaedic injuries (OI). They were administered
the Stockings of Cambridge and Spatial Working Memory sub-tests from the
Cambridge Neuropsychological Testing Automated Battery (CANTAB) approximately 10
days, 3 months and 12 months post-injury. Parents completed the Behavior Rating
Inventory of Executive Functions (BRIEF) on each occasion, with ratings at the
initial assessment intended to assess pre-morbid functioning retrospectively.
RESULTS: On the CANTAB, the groups did not differ on the Stockings of Cambridge
and the mild TBI group unexpectedly performed better than the OI group on Spatial
Working Memory. On the BRIEF, children with mild TBI showed a marginally
significant trend toward more problems than the OI group on the Metacognition
Index composite. The only BRIEF sub-scale on which they demonstrated
significantly more problems was Organization of Materials. The presence of
intracranial abnormalities on MRI was associated with more problems on the BRIEF
Organization of Materials sub-scale at 3 months, but other findings were not
consistent with hypothesized effects of TBI severity. The CANTAB sub-tests were
significant predictors of later ratings on the BRIEF, but accounted for modest
variance. DISCUSSION: Children with mild TBI show limited evidence of deficits in
executive functions, either cognitively or behaviourally, irrespective of injury
characteristics. Cognitive tests of executive functions are modest predictors of
ratings of executive functions in everyday life, for children both with and
without mild TBI.

Langue : ANGLAIS