Traumatic brain injury in a child psychiatry inpatient population: a controlled study.
OBJECTIVE
To extend our findings from child psychiatry outpatients to child psychiatry inpatients regarding the similarity of children with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI), particularly mild TBI, to matched children without such a history.


METHODS
This is a chart review of patients consecutively admitted to a child psychiatry inpatient unit over a 5-year period. Children with TBI were matched by age, sex, race, and social class to children with no history of TBI. Axis I and II diagnoses and diagnostic clusters and use of special education services and IQ scores were compared.


RESULTS
Fifty-six (8.1%) of 694 consecutive patients admitted had a definite TBI. Not one of more than 50 variables compared between TBI and control subjects was significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
In a child psychiatry inpatient unit, patients with a history of TBI were virtually indistinguishable from matched children without TBI. Caution should be exercised before attributing the child's problems, especially long-term problems, to the TBI unless the injury was severe or the child is exhibiting related phobic or posttraumatic stress symptomatology.
Max
J E
JE
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa, Iowa City 52242, USA.
Sharma
A
A
Qurashi
M I
MI
D000293:Adolescent; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D002665:Child Psychiatry / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016555:Matched-Pair Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic