Childhood head injuries can lead to long-term changes

Even mild head injuries can leave children with personality changes and long-lasting emotional, behavioral and learning problems. Yet the majority of youngsters don’t get follow-up care and only 40% of their teachers are made aware of what’s happened, researchers report.

Scientists at the University of Warwick in England studied 526 children, ages 5 to 15, who were admitted to British hospitals with head injuries from 1992 to 1998. Of the injuries, 419 were classified as mild, 58 moderate and 49 severe. Parents were surveyed about their children.

One in five children exhibited a change in personality, which moms and dads sometimes likened to “having a different child.” Lingering effects left 43% of the youngsters with moderate disability, yet 64% of them didn’t have follow-up hospital visits, the study found. Overall, parents reported that doctors scheduled follow-up appointments for only 30% of the children.

The study was published in the May issue of the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

-- Jane E. Allen