Children and Traumatic Brain Injuries

 Posted on December 00,0000 in Brain Injury

According to national statistics, more than 630,000 children are brought to emergency rooms each year because they have sustained some kind of traumatic brain injury (TBI). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data shows that one in 30 children will sustain a brain injury by the time they reach 16 years of age. Young children, in particular, are more susceptible to brain injuries, and about one-third of children with TBIs will suffer from long-lasting or permanent disability from the injury.

There have been multiple studies done which confirm that TBIs in children can have serious side effects on a child’s behavior, cognitive function, and IQ that can last for an extended period of time. Some of these studies reveal that recovery from brain injuries can go on for years and that there are certain factors – including whether the child has certain genes or the home environment the child lives in – which can affect recovery.

Infants are very vulnerable to brain injuries because their skulls are still soft and developing. Compounding the issue is that their brains are growing at a very quick rate and if the baby suffers a TBI during this time, he or she can have serious cognitive difficulties.

Some of the studies that have been done on children with TBIs do indicate that both therapy and intervention can play a significant role in the child’s recovery, and years after they sustained the injury. Studies also show that the more stable home environment a child has, the better the chances of recovery are.

One recent study conducted by researchers from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital looked specifically at how much of a role a child’s home life played in brain injury recovery. The research team spent seven years from the injury following TBI victims. The first thing they found was that children who had sustained mild to moderate brain injuries were twice as likely to develop attention disorders, however, children who sustained severe TBIs were five times as likely.

The next thing they examined was how a child’s home environment affected that recovery. Children who had severe TBI’s and had a stable home life recovered better than children who had moderate TBIs and had a poor home life. Researchers suspect that the reason for this is that a key to a child’s recovery is how quickly he or she receives medical treatment and the response in stable home environments was better than in poor home environments.

Contact an Illinois TBI Attorney

If your child has sustained a brain injury caused by another party’s negligence or recklessness, contact a skilled Orland Park personal injury attorney today to discuss what legal options you may have. Call Attorney Issa Law, LLC at 708-966-2408 for a free consultation.

Sources:

https://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2492707