Predictors of outcome following traumatic brain injury in young children.

The relationship between clinical and neuroimaging variables and multiple outcome measures was examined in a longitudinal, prospective study of 60 children less than 6 years of age who sustained either inflicted or noninflicted traumatic brain injury. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that the modified Glasgow Coma Scale score, the duration of impaired consciousness and the number of intracranial lesions visualized on CT/MRI accounted for a significant amount of the variance in the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS), cognitive and motor scores at baseline, 3- and 12-month evaluations. Inflicted brain injury adversely affected both GOS and cognitive outcomes. Pupillary abnormalities were associated with poorer motor outcome. Neither age at injury nor the Injury Severity Score accounted for significant variability in outcomes.