Long-term outcome following severe and very severe closed head injury during childhood

A retrospective follow-up study of nineteen Coloured subjects who sustained severe and very severe closed head injury in motor vehicle accidents while under the age of 15 years was carried out at a mean of 6,1 years post-injury. Each subject was neuropsychologically assessed using a battery of tests including those of general intellectual ability and motor, visuo-graphic, language and memory functioning. The performance of the head-injured group was compared with that of a control group-of ten normal subjects matched with the head-injured subjects for race and social class. In seventeen cases a detailed follow-up interview was obtained from one of the head-injured subject's primary caretakers. The results of the study suggest that global intellectual deficit is to be found most frequently where the duration of post-traumatic amnesia exceeds three weeks. Global impairment of IQ appears to be unlikely where post-traumatic amnesia lasts for less than one week. Subjects with a history of three weeks post- traumatic amnesia appear to be pervasively impaired in tests of neuropsychological function at long-term follow-up. Results indicate that post-traumatic amnesia of over one week but less than three weeks' duration is linked with long-term impairment in manual dexterity, motor-speed and precision, visuographic functioning and language production. It is suggested that post-traumatic amnesia of less than one week is linked with impaired motor-speed and precision and deficient language production. The most frequently reported changes following closed head injury include the development of headaches and motor weakness on one or other side of the body, irritability and impatience, anxiety, a tendency to withdraw, have a low tolerance for stress and impaired ability to attend. Forgetfulness, learning difficulties and scholastic failure also appear to be frequent sequelae. It is noted that, due to the small size of the sample, the results and conclusions are only suggestive of long-term outcome patterns in the Coloured South African who sustains severe or very severe closed head injury during childhood.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Psychology

Year dc:date.issued

1984

Author dc:creator

• Colam, Alan David

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Ruthenberg, David

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14816

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/14816