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Neuropsychological follow-up was studied in 70 consecutive head-injured subjects aged over 50 years. Diffuse deterioration (28%), moderate deterioration (25%) and dementia (21%) were the most frequent sequelae. Analysis of correlations between neuropsychological sequelae and trauma variables showed that: (1) mild trauma did not necessarily imply good prognosis and could be followed by very severe consequences; (2) duration of post-traumatic amnesia was correlated with coma duration but not with neuropsychological out come; (3) on the whole, no prognostic predictor of the outcome was found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to obtain indicative data regarding intellectual, behavioural and social outcome into adulthood of subjects with a history of childhood head injury (CHI) , twenty adults were selected who had been referred to the Neuropsychology Unit at the University of Parma at the time of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) at an age between 8 and 14 years. The level of intellectual and behavioural impairment was determined and rated by WISC and WAIS IQa and by the frequency of maladjustive behaviour. GOS score and Barthel index were used to detect the level of disability. Social adjustment and community integration were determined by the Social Adjustment Scale SAS and the Community Integration Questionnaire (CIQ) respectively. Results indicate that (1) subjects who suffer a severe CHI present a higher pre injury incidence of character disturbances than the normal population and injury related difficulties to socialize which persist long term and add to other problems; (2) even though intellectual and functional sequelae are frequent in these children in adulthood and do not improve in their correlation to age, these do not appear to be the prevailing problems and (3) the prevailing problems seem to be social maladjustment and poor quality of life, which are still present several years post injury and seem to be related to behavioural and psychosocial disorders in spite of an increased ADL functioning. This has already been clearly demonstrated in the case of adulthood trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]