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No More Challenging Problem
Where Experts Agree
Advice To Parents: Be Proactive
Are Children More Vulnerable To Brain Injury?

Parents should be aware that, while it is a commonly held belief by clinicians that the younger the brain, the more resilient it is after injury (a contention that recent studies in rats seem to support), significant neurological deficits are only seen with severe injuries that result in a very high death rate.

Parents also need to know that there is evidence to support the idea of specific developmental periods when the young brain may be more vulnerable to injury. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in children results in higher death rates than in adolescents. Long term follow-up studies demonstrate persistent neurocognitive deficits after pediatric TBI. However, it is also difficult to assess developmental deficits in children after mild brain injury, as signs of overt neurological dysfunction may be lacking, and loss of developmental potential may also be demonstrable at a later time or under specific circumstances.

As a result, children and adolescents who sustain a concussive brain injury should be closely monitored over time for the later appearance of neurobehavioral abnormalities.

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Article Updated: August 23, 2007

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