Association among duration of unconsciousness, Glasgow Coma Scale, and cranial computed tomography abnormalities in head-injured children

The impact of head trauma leads to generation of forces that cause both the intracranial injuries and loss of consciousness. Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) and cranial CT scan are widely used to gauge the severity of head injury. M ilder cranial impacts insufficient to cause intracranial injuries generally cause no or minimal loss of consciousness. Nevertheless, cases with contra dictory findings are also seen. This study was undertaken to find out the a ssociation among the three above-stated variables. A knowledge of such an a ssociation can enable the attending clinician in prognosticating a cranial injury and selecting out those patients with mild head injuries who deserve closer observation. While a significant positive association was found bet ween duration of unconsciousness and GCS, no signifficant association of ei ther of these variables with CT scan findings was noted.