title: Survivors of severe traumatic brain injury in childhood. I. Incidence, background and hospital course.
abstract: Survivors of severe craniocerebral injury in childhood require prolonged rehabilitation care. We have surveyed the incidence, social characteristics and early hospital course of such patients in Israel. Yearly incidence was 1:100,000. Thirty-six patients were surveyed. Thirteen of these patients (36%) were described as suffering from cognitive deficits prior to injury and in 11 families (30%), the parent pair showed disturbed function before the injury. Thirty-three of the patients (92%) were victims of road accidents, the child being a pedestrian in 70% of these. Duration of coma was over 1 week in all the children but one, and only a minority of the children underwent neurosurgical interventions. The data on premorbid disturbed function are highly suggestive but not conclusive in the absence of a relevant control group. However, the findings are in accord with findings in adult craniocerebral injured patients in whom recognizable social factors seem clearly associated with craniocerebral injury.
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D002673:Child, Hospitalized; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D003128:Coma / Q000209:etiology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors