Posted on 08/23/2015 10:03:56 AM PDT by rickmichaels
Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have just released a study showing a “significant association” between two increasingly common — and perplexing — medical conditions: traumatic brain injury such as concussions, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
Published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the study found that 12.5 per cent of adults with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) were also diagnosed with ADHD or screened positive for the disorder during a self-report test developed by the World Health Organization. Previous research has revealed similar results in children.
“The odds of having or screening positive for ADHD if you have a history of TBI are about 2½ times higher than in adults who never had a history of TBI,” says Gabriela Ilie, the study’s lead author and a post-doctoral fellow in injury prevention at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
The inverse is also true: having ADHD increases the risk that an individual who has had a TBI will incur future traumatic brain injuries. That’s because it impairs attention, says Ilie — a person might not be aware of a danger in their path and wind up in an accident as a result.
“This is important because by 2020, TBI will become the third largest contributor to disease and disability, after heart disease and depression,” says Ilie, citing WHO data. All the more so considering mounting research over the last five years exposing a strong link between TBI and substance abuse, mental health problems and aggression.
At the same time, the incidence of ADHD continues to rise, affecting as many as 12 to 15 per cent of children across the country, according to the Centre for ADHD Awareness Canada, making it the most common pediatric mental health disorder. Over the last decade, adults have been increasingly diagnosed too, says Ilie.
Some of the most persistent consequences of TBI include ADHD-like symptoms such as impairment in memory, lack of attention, deficits in executive skills, negative mood and impulsivity, explains Ilie. In cases of “post-concussive syndrome,” the symptoms can last for years. That can make discerning between a long-lasting TBI and ADHD challenging. “If those symptoms persist, they could develop into an actual condition,” says Ilie. “Or you could be looking at two separate things.”
Nearly 4,000 people over 18 and living in Ontario were surveyed by telephone for the study; researchers then focused on individuals who had experienced a head injury that caused them to lose consciousness for five minutes or more, or led to an overnight hospitalization.
The findings, however, are relevant to anyone who has suffered even a “mild” concussion, says Ilie—which may not be accompanied by a blackout, and often goes undiagnosed. Put in this context, the association between TBI and ADHD might actually be much stronger than even this study suggests.
“It’s definitely something to keep in mind. So many people get one [concussion] and say, ‘I’m just going to take it easy for a couple of days,’ and then you return to normal. You assume you’re fine,” says Ilie. “The phrase ‘It’s just a concussion’ has done us so much more to harm than help our society. A concussion is no different than any other injury. Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. And it affects the one organ in the body that is responsible for how we think and feel.”
Researchers such as Ilie are only just starting to understand to what extent.
I was just turning my life around to be a refrigerator repairman at technical school when I bumped my head
That’s because it impairs attention, says Ilie — a person might not be aware of a danger in their path and wind up in an accident as a result.
This is very sad news. And I imagine that there isn't a way to reverse any of this.
Very sad news.
I got hit in the cheek with an aluminum baseball bat playing around as a kid. My face was bruised for a week and my left eye was blood shot.
It would seem like if Traumatic Brain Injuries were a primary cause of ADHD that the incident of both should be decreasing. 50 years ago when I was a kid we were much more active than children are today. At least where I lived we spent most of our time playing hard outside.
Protecting kids from absolutely every hazard didn’t seem to be the priority that it is these days. Of course back then we were still in the middle of a baby boom and a favorite saying from my dad was, “If you kill yourself doing that, your mom and I will just make another one that looks just like you.”
My mother once told my wife how I kept riding my tricycle down the concrete steps to our front porch and landing on my big head. At that time the porch was over 6ft high. My wife asked her if she put up a child gate or something. My mom said, “No, we figured he’d learn.
I grew up with horses and we rode which ever one we could catch “bare back” most of the time. Despite being knocked unconscious several times after falling off of horses who were acting up... no one in my family ever thought about wearing a helmet while riding a horse. I don’t know if helmets for riding horses were even available. We also didn’t wear them while riding bicycles, mini-bikes, go-carts, motorcycles, or riding home on top of the hay truck.
I don’t believe any of this. I got hit in the head with a shovel as a kid and had no negative effects. So there. No..., wait..., what was I saying....
No joke. My 8 year old daughter today isn’t getting hurt like my sister and I were at that age. Growing up in the 1970s, riding bikes down big hills, we’re lucky to be alive. And we weren’t deterred even after some pretty gnarly crashes. I’ve got a few concussions and knock-outs under my belt, I was a Navy nuclear technician, and I’m an aerospace engineer with a master’s degree in that now. I’m not trying to be a braggart about my achievements, I’m just not buying this link.
ADHD is a manufactured ailment and the doctor that invented it and made a boatload of money off of it admitted as much before he died.
Hospitals also wouldnt have charged you 60 grand a whole bunch of crap if you took,your kid in, either.
This smells like junk science to me.
1. ADHD is a nebulous condition at best
2. ADHD sufferers here were self-identified in a telephone survey.
3. There is no mention of whether they would have self-identified as ADHD before the physical injury.
So in my view, the survey — I won’t dignify it by calling it a study— by not determining if ADHD existed before the injury, has proven that ADHD may cause lasting traumatic brain injuries.
There was a study I read a few years ago that showed that the more padded kids were, the more head injuries went UP.
Turns out that unpadded and kids without head protection learn fast what their limitations are. The kids with helmets and pads have a false sense of security and take greater risks.
Ski Helmet Use Isn’t Reducing Brain Injuries
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/sports/on-slopes-rise-in-helmet-use-but-no-decline-in-brain-injuries.html?_r=0
A Bicycling Mystery: Head Injuries Piling Up
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/29/business/a-bicycling-mystery-head-injuries-piling-up.html
What evidence is there that cycle helmets reduce serious injury?
http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1013.html
Thanks for posting. Answers some questions.....
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