Complicated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury at a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center: Burden of Care and Imaging Findings.

OBJECTIVE

The aims of this study were: (1) to characterize mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), mTBI with skull fracture, and complicated mTBI in school-aged children seen at a Level I pediatric trauma center and (2) to examine the nature of imaging findings seen in children with mTBI with skull fracture and those with complicated mTBI.

METHODS

A total of 1777 pediatric patients (male: 1193 or 67.1%; age = 11.1 ± 3.5 years) sustaining mTBI who presented to the Emergency Department or directly to the trauma service in the years 2010 to 2013 were identified and classified into mTBI (n = 1,319 or 74.2%), mTBI with skull fracture (n = 127 or 7.2%), and complicated mTBI (n = 331 or 18.6%). Patient characteristics and imaging findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's χ2 test, Fisher's exact test, and logistic regression analysis.

RESULTS

In children with complicated mTBI, subdural hematoma (36.9%) was the most common finding. Of the 331 children with complicated mTBI, 241 (72.8%) had multiple findings compared with one (0.8%) of 127 children having mTBI with skull fracture (Fisher's exact P < 0.001), with logistic regression analysis revealing younger age as a potential risk factor (P < 0.01). Children sustaining a depressed or complex skull fracture were nearly twice as likely as those with simple, linear skull fracture to have intracranial abnormality.

CONCLUSIONS

Multiple radiographic findings in children sustaining mTBI with skull fracture or complicated mTBI are prevalent (72.8%), with younger age as a potential risk factor.