Abstract
Background:
We evaluated the risk of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) following childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Methods:
Using Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database, we included 10,416 newly diagnosed TBI children (aged ≤12 y) between 2001 and 2002 and 41,664 children without TBI, who were frequency matched by sex, age, and year of the index medical service with each TBI child, as controls. Children who had been diagnosed with ADHD prior to their medical service index were excluded. Each individual was followed for 9 y to identify ADHD diagnosis. We also compared the ADHD risk in children who were treated for fractures but not TBI as sensitivity analysis.
Results:
During the 9-y follow-up period, children with TBI had a higher ADHD risk (adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) = 1.32, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.19, 1.45) than did those without TBI. Furthermore, children with mild and severe TBI had higher AHRs for ADHD than did those without TBI (AHR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.10, 1.53; and AHR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.22, 1.55). However, no significant association was observed between fractures and ADHD.
Conclusion:
TBI in childhood is associated with a greater likelihood of developing ADHD.
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Acknowledgements
The dataset was obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database provided by the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, Taiwan, and managed by the National Health Research Institutes. The interpretations and conclusions contained herein do not represent those of the Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, or the National Health Research Institutes.
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Yang, LY., Huang, CC., Chiu, WT. et al. Association of traumatic brain injury in childhood and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a population-based study. Pediatr Res 80, 356–362 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2016.85
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2016.85
