A new study published in the September, 2014 edition of the journal “PLOS ONE”, offers further support for the existence of a connection between suffering a brain injury at a young age and a variety of serious problems, including behavioral problems. While studies have long noted a variety of long term consequences, including variations in how a person’s gender may impact upon the effects manifested from traumatic brain injury (TBI), this new study was particularly focused upon TBI in young persons in an effort to identify whether the person’s age, or a combination of age and gender, may impact the manifested effects of TBI.
The researchers examined data collected from over 9,000 students enrolled in grades 7-12 and focused on persons who had suffered a head injury which resulted in an overnight hospitalization or a period of unconsciousness of at least five minutes. Given the recent media attention to TBI lately and the apparent link between participation in contact sport and TBI, it is perhaps not surprising that the researchers found “team sports” as the most common reported cause of TBI amongst the study’s participants.
The results reportedly “indicate that adolescents with TBI are vulnerable to a range of psychological and behavioral harms that co-occur with their history of a TBI,” such as suicidal ideation, smoking, and drug use. Due to limitations on the study, including the fact that the data reviewed was limited to the participants’ self-report, the researchers were not able to gather meaningful data on the severity of the TBIs suffered by the study’s subjects. As such, the potential impact of TBI severity remains an open question with regard to the results of this particular study.
Each year millions of people are subjected to brain trauma suffered in accidents of varying kings, including car accidents, bicycle accidents and other incidents. TBI can produce devastating life impacts. Personality changes, impaired memory, violent outbursts, sleep disturbances, and other life changing consequences are frequently seen in the victims of TBI. If you or a loved one have been involved in an accident and have noticed such effects, we urge you to seek medical attention and the assistance of an attorney.
