CHILD AND ADOLESCENT TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY - CORRELATES OF INJURY SEVERITY

A record review focused on children and adolescents, with a history of traumatic brain injury, who were consecutively admitted to a brain in jury clinic in which all new patients are psychiatrically evaluated. S ignificant correlates of severity of injury in the cognitive, educatio n and communication domains of functioning included Performance IQ but not Verbal IQ nor standardized ratings of language or learning disabi lity. Current organic personality syndrome (OPS) but not attention def icit hyperactivity disorder or oppositional defiant disorder/conduct d isorder diagnostic status was significantly related to severity. In co nclusion, the findings in this referred sample are similar to prospect ive studies indicating that Performance IQ appears sensitive in reflec ting brain damage. The finding linking OPS to severity of injury is no t surprising. This is because OPS is a diagnosis which is dependent on the clinician's judgment of the likelihood that the organic factor is etiologically related to a defined behavioural syndrome. The diagnosi s therefore requires a clinical judgment that the threshold of severit y of a presumed organic etiological factor has been reached.