Mild injuries in early childhood may cause ADHD, study suggests

Salt Lake City, November 7: A tumble down at a young age, especially the one hurting the head, could be an early warning sign for developing Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), a neurobehavioural developmental disorder that triggers hyperactivity in kids, a new study says.

While moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries in older children have already been linked to ADHD, the study is the first to associate mild traumatic brain injury in toddlers to ADHD.

To know whether or not head injury that occurs before the age of 2 might cause ADHD, the researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City zeroed in on 62,088 children who were already registered in a British health improvement network database.

The children with head injuries were compared to children who had encountered a burn injury before the age of 2 and with those not injured at all.

Analysis revealed that while 90 percent of the head injuries encountered in the young age ballooned to ADHD diagnosis before they turned 10, scalding injuries' linkup to ADHD diagnoses stood at 70 percent compared to non-injured children.

The condition afflicting twice as many boys than girls is typically characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and hyperactivity, as well as forgetfulness, poor impulse control and distractibility.

"Children with early injury should receive routine developmental and behavioral surveillance by their pediatrician, as well as injury prevention counseling," study’s lead researcher Dr. Heather Keenan, an Associate Professor of pediatrics at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City advises.

Interestingly, while environmental factors surely influence the severity of the condition and how well the afflicted child copes and functions with it, ADHD is not a result of poor parenting, family problems, bad teachers or schools.

The findings of the study are published in the current issue of the British Medical Journal.