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Review
. 2009 May;23(3):283-96.
doi: 10.1037/a0015268.

Neurocognitive outcomes and recovery after pediatric TBI: meta-analytic review of the literature

Talin Babikian  1 , Robert Asarnow
Affiliations
Review

Neurocognitive outcomes and recovery after pediatric TBI: meta-analytic review of the literature

Talin Babikian et al. Neuropsychology. 2009 May.

Abstract

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) continues to be one of the leading causes of death and disability in the pediatric population. Although the literature on neurocognitive outcomes is relatively rich, studies vary significantly in the methods used to group subjects on several moderating variables, including age at injury, injury severity, and time since injury, making it difficult to combine and summarize the data for comparison. Further complicating this effort is the wide range of measures used to document functional outcomes in key neurocognitive domains. In this meta-analytic review, 28 publications (1988 to 2007) that met inclusion criteria were summarized based on three distinct injury severity and time post injury groups for 14 key neurocognitive domains. Effect sizes were calculated to reflect the extent to which the above groups differed in case-control and case-case studies, as well as address recovery based on longitudinal studies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first published quantitative summary of the literature on neurocognitive outcomes after pediatric TBI. Limitations of the current state of the literature as well as recommendations for future studies are discussed.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of effects between TBI and control groups for each neurocognitive domain in the postacute (Time 1) and chronic (Time 3) phases, and recovery trends. (A) Time 1 (acute/post-acute) versus Control effect sizes by injury severity and domain in cross-sectional studies. (B) Time 3 (chronic) versus Control effect sizes by injury severity and domain in cross-sectional studies. (C) Time 3 versus Time 1 (Recovery) effect sizes by injury severity and domain in longitudinal studies.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Summary diagram of trends in neurocognitive outcomes and recovery over time.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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