Novel Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder 24 Months After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to identify predictive factors of new-onset or novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder assessed 24 months after traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: Children ages 5 to 14 years who had experienced TBI were recruited from consecutive hospital admissions. Soon after injury, participants were assessed for preinjury characteristics, including psychiatric disorders, socioeconomic status (SES), psychosocial adversity, and family function, and the presence and location of lesions were documented by MRI. Psychiatric outcomes, including novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, were assessed 24 months after injury. RESULTS: Of the children without preinjury oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, or disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified who were recruited in this study, 165 were included in this sample; 95 of these children returned for the 24-month assessment. Multiple imputation was used to address attrition. The prevalence of novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder was 23.7 out of 165 (14%). In univariable analyses, novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder was significantly associated with psychosocial adversity (p=0.049) and frontal white matter lesions (p=0.016) and was marginally but not significantly associated with SES. In the final multipredictor model, frontal white matter lesions were significantly associated with novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder (p=0.021), and psychosocial adversity score was marginally but not significantly associated with the outcome. The odds ratio of novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder among the children with versus those without novel depressive disorder was significantly higher for girls than boys (p=0.025), and the odds ratio of novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder among the children with versus those without novel attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was significantly higher for boys than girls (p=0.006). CONCLUSION: Approximately 14% of children with TBI developed oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder. The risk for novel oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder can be understood from a biopsychosocial perspective. Sex differences were evident for comorbid novel depressive disorder and comorbid novel ADHD.

Novel Psychiatric Disorder 6 Months After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the factors predictive of novel psychiatric disorders in the interval 0-6 months following traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: Children ages 5-14 years consecutively hospitalized for mild to severe TBI at five hospitals were recruited. Participants were evaluated at baseline (soon after injury) for pre-injury characteristics including psychiatric disorders, socioeconomic status (SES), psychosocial adversity, family function, family psychiatric history, and adaptive function. In addition to the psychosocial variables, injury severity and lesion location detected with acquisition of a research MRI were measured to develop a biopsychosocial predictive model for development of novel psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric outcome, including occurrence of a novel psychiatric disorder, was assessed 6 months after the injury. RESULTS: The recruited sample numbered 177 children, and 141 children (80%) returned for the six-month assessment. Of the 141 children, 58 (41%) developed a novel psychiatric disorder. In univariable analyses, novel psychiatric disorder was significantly associated with lower SES, higher psychosocial adversity, and lesions in frontal lobe locations, such as frontal white matter, superior frontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and orbital gyrus. Multivariable analyses found that novel psychiatric disorder was independently and significantly associated with frontal-lobe white matter, superior frontal gyrus, and orbital gyrus lesions. CONCLUSION: The results demonstrate that occurrence of novel psychiatric disorders following pediatric TBI requiring hospitalization is common and has identifiable psychosocial and specific biological predictors. However, only the lesion predictors were independently related to this adverse psychiatric outcome.

Novel Oppositional Defiant Disorder 12 Months After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The investigators examined the factors predictive of novel oppositional defiant disorder in the 6-12 months following traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: Children ages 5-14 years old who experienced a TBI were recruited from consecutive admissions to five hospitals. Participants were evaluated soon after injury (baseline) for preinjury characteristics, including psychiatric disorders, adaptive function, family function, psychosocial adversity, family psychiatric history, socioeconomic status, and injury severity, to develop a biopsychosocial predictive model for development of novel oppositional defiant disorder. MRI analyses were conducted to examine potential brain lesions. Psychiatric outcome, including that of novel oppositional defiant disorder, was assessed 12 months after injury. RESULTS: Although 177 children were recruited for the study, 120 children without preinjury oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, or disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified (DBD NOS) returned for the 12-month assessment. Of these 120 children, seven (5.8%) exhibited novel oppositional defiant disorder, and none developed conduct disorder or DBD NOS in the 6-12 months postinjury. Novel oppositional defiant disorder was significantly associated with lower socioeconomic status, higher psychosocial adversity, and lower preinjury adaptive functioning. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that novel oppositional defiant disorder following TBI selectively and negatively affects an identifiable group of children. Both proximal (preinjury adaptive function) and distal (socioeconomic status and psychosocial adversity) psychosocial variables significantly increase risk for this outcome.

Novel Oppositional Defiant Disorder 6 Months After Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: The investigators aimed to assess predictive factors of novel oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) among children and adolescents in the first 6 months following traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: Children ages 5-14 years who experienced a TBI were recruited from consecutive admissions to five hospitals. Testing of a biopsychosocial model that may elucidate the development of novel ODD included assessment soon after injury (baseline) of preinjury characteristics, including psychiatric disorders, adaptive function, family function, psychosocial adversity, family psychiatric history, socioeconomic status, injury severity, and postinjury processing speed (which may be a proxy for brain injury). MRI analyses were also conducted to examine potential brain lesions. Psychiatric outcome, including that of novel ODD, was assessed 6 months after the injury. RESULTS: A total of 177 children and adolescents were recruited for the study, and 134 who were without preinjury ODD, conduct disorder, or disruptive behavior disorder not otherwise specified (DBD NOS) returned for the 6-month assessment. Of those who returned 6 months postinjury, 11 (8.2%) developed novel ODD, and none developed novel conduct disorder or DBD NOS. Novel ODD was significantly associated with socioeconomic status, preinjury family functioning, psychosocial adversity, and processing speed. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that an important minority of children with TBI developed ODD. Psychosocial and injury-related variables, including socioeconomic status, lower family function, psychosocial adversity, and processing speed, significantly increase risk for this outcome.

Personality Change Due to Traumatic Brain Injury in Children and Adolescents: Neurocognitive Correlates.

Personality change due to traumatic brain injury (PC) in children is an important psychiatric complication of injury and is a form of severe affective dysregulation. This study aimed to examine neurocognitive correlates of PC. The sample included 177 children 5-14 years old with traumatic brain injury who were enrolled from consecutive admissions to five trauma centers. Patients were followed up prospectively at baseline and at 6 months, and they were assessed with semistructured psychiatric interviews. Injury severity, socioeconomic status, and neurocognitive function (measures of attention, processing speed, verbal memory, IQ, verbal working memory, executive function, naming/reading, expressive language, motor speed, and motor inhibition) were assessed with standardized instruments. Unremitted PC was present in 26 (18%) of 141 participants assessed at 6 months postinjury. Attention, processing speed, verbal memory, IQ, and executive function were significantly associated with PC even after socioeconomic status, injury severity, and preinjury attention deficit hyperactivity disorder were controlled. These findings are a first step in characterizing concomitant cognitive impairments associated with PC. The results have implications beyond brain injury to potentially elucidate the neurocognitive symptom complex associated with mood instability regardless of etiology.

Psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents 24 months after mild traumatic brain injury.

This study aimed to better understand the occurrence of novel psychiatric disorders (NPDs) in children with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) in relation to preinjury variables, injury-related variables, and concurrent neurocognitive outcome. Eighty-seven children aged 5-14 years who had experienced mTBI were studied from consecutive hospital admissions with semistructured psychiatric interviews soon after injury (baseline). Fifty-four children were reassessed 24 months postinjury. Standardized instruments were used to evaluate injury severity, lesion characteristics, preinjury variables (lifetime psychiatric disorder, family psychiatric history, family function, socioeconomic status, psychosocial adversity, adaptive function, and academic function), and finally, postinjury neurocognitive and adaptive function. At 24 months postinjury, NPDs had occurred in 17 of 54 (31%) participants. NPD at 24 months was related to frontal white matter lesions and was associated with estimated preinjury reading, preinjury adaptive function, and concurrent deficits in reading, processing speed, and adaptive function. These findings extend earlier reports that the psychiatric morbidity after mTBI in children is more common than previously thought, and moreover, it is linked to preinjury individual variables and injury characteristics and is associated with postinjury adaptive and neurocognitive functioning.

Neuropsychological performance of youth with secondary attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder 6- and 12-months after traumatic brain injury.

The present study compared executive dysfunction among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) after traumatic brain injury (TBI), also called secondary ADHD (S-ADHD), pre-injury ADHD and children with TBI only (i.e., no ADHD). Youth aged 6-16 years admitted for TBI to five trauma centers were enrolled (n=177) and evaluated with a semi-structured psychiatric interview scheduled on three occasions (within 2 weeks of TBI, i.e., baseline assessment for pre-injury status; 6-months and 12-months post-TBI). This permitted the determination of 6- and 12-month post-injury classifications of membership in three mutually exclusive groups (S-ADHD; pre-injury ADHD; TBI-only). Several executive control measures were administered. Unremitted S-ADHD was present in 17/141 (12%) children at the 6-month assessment, and in 14/125 (11%) children at 12-months post-injury. The study found that children with S-ADHD exhibited deficient working memory, attention, and psychomotor speed as compared to children with pre-injury ADHD. Furthermore, the children with S-ADHD and the children with TBI-only were impaired compared to the children with pre-injury ADHD with regard to planning. No group differences related to response inhibition emerged. Age, but not injury severity, gender, or adaptive functioning was related to executive function outcome. Neuropsychological sequelae distinguish among children who develop S-ADHD following TBI and those with TBI only. Moreover, there appears to be a different pattern of executive control performance in those who develop S-ADHD than in children with pre-injury ADHD suggesting that differences exist in the underlying neural mechanisms that define each disorder, underscoring the need to identify targeted treatment interventions.

Psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents in the first six months after mild traumatic brain injury.

The objective was to assess the nature, rate, predictive factors, and neurocognitive correlates of novel psychiatric disorders (NPD) after mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). Children age 5-14 years with MTBI (N=87) from consecutive admissions to five trauma centers were enrolled and studied with semistructured psychiatric interviews soon after injury (baseline), and 70 of these children were assessed again 6 months post-injury. Injury severity; lesion characteristics; pre-injury variables, including psychiatric disorder, family psychiatric history, family functioning, socioeconomic status, psychosocial adversity, and adaptive functioning; and post-injury neurocognitive and adaptive functioning measures were assessed with standardized instruments. NPD occurred in 25 of 70 participants (36%) in the first 6 months after injury. NPD at 6 months was predicted by the presence of frontal white-matter lesions on MRI at 3 months post-injury, and was associated with concurrent decrements on neurocognitive indices of processing speed, expressive language, and intellectual functioning. NPD was not predicted by other indices of severity, pre-injury psychosocial variables, estimated pre-injury academic functioning, or adaptive and executive function decrements 6 months post-injury. These findings suggest that short-term psychiatric morbidity associated with MTBI in children and adolescents may be more common than previously thought and may have readily identifiable neuroimaging and neurocognitive correlates.

Psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents six-to-twelve months after mild traumatic brain injury.

The objective of this study was to understand how novel psychiatric disorders (NPD) in children with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) are related to pre-injury variables, injury-related variables, and concurrent neurocognitive outcome. A group of 79 children, ages 5 to 14 years, who had experienced MTBI, were studied from consecutive hospital admissions with semistructured psychiatric interviews soon after injury (baseline); 60 children were reassessed 12 months post-injury. Standardized instruments were used to assess injury severity; lesion characteristics; pre-injury variables, including psychiatric disorder, family psychiatric history, family functioning, socioeconomic status, psychosocial adversity, adaptive functioning, and post-injury neurocognitive and adaptive functioning. NPD occurred in 17 of 60 participants (28%) in the 6-12-month interval after injury, with disorders that were significantly associated with socioeconomic status, psychosocial adversity, estimated pre-injury academic functioning, and concurrent deficits in adaptive functioning, academic performance, processing speed, memory, and expressive language. NPD was not significantly associated with pre-injury adaptive functioning, injury severity, family psychiatric history, pre-injury psychiatric disorder, lesion location, gender, or age at injury. These findings suggest that the short-term psychiatric morbidity associated with MTBI in children occurs more commonly than previously reported and is related to both pre-injury social factors and concurrent neurocognitive functioning.

Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Modified Scale for Suicidal Ideation among suicidal youth.

BACKGROUND: Although suicidal behaviors occur at a high rate in adolescence, relatively few interview-based measures are available to assess suicidal ideation among youth. Existing interview measures are limited by a paucity of empirical study, a failure to conform to standard suicide nomenclature, or a lengthy administration time. This study presents data on the psychometric properties and factor structure of the brief, layperson-administered Modified Scale for Suicidal Ideation (MSSI) among suicidal youth. METHODS: The MSSI was administered to an inpatient sample of 102 suicidal youth aged 13-17 years. Additional interview and self-report measures were administered to examine the convergent validity of the MSSI. RESULTS: Consistent with previous findings among suicidal adults, the MSSI displayed good internal consistency and expected patterns of convergent validity. Principal component analysis revealed a bidimensional structure, with factors corresponding to (1) Desire and Ideation and (2) Plans and Preparations. Each factor displayed acceptable internal consistency and expected patterns of convergent validity via associations with hopelessness, depressive symptoms, impulsivity, and a self-report measure of suicidal behaviors. The Plans and Preparations factor significantly associated with the presence of a current suicide attempt and with greater suicide intent among attempters, whereas the Desire and Ideation factor did not. CONCLUSIONS: The MSSI appears to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess suicidal ideation among distressed youth. Clinicians are encouraged to pay particular attention to responses on the Plans and Preparations factor given its stronger association with suicide attempt and more serious suicide intent.

Developing a psychopathology curriculum during child and adolescent psychiatry residency training: general principles and a problem-based approach.

Psychopathology is one of the core elements in a curriculum on child and adolescent psychiatry. Because there is no best-evidence model described for teaching this topic, an approach must be developed in each program that meets the standards set out by the Residency Review Committee and fully prepares its graduates to be competent child and adolescent psychiatrists. Methods used for teaching psychopathology may vary widely among programs and should be based on a sound educational rationale and adult learning principles that emphasize life-long, self-directed learning. This article describes an overall approach to curriculum design and expands on the use of problem-based learning as an educational method for teaching psychopathology in a child and adolescent psychiatry residency program.

Depression in children and adolescents in the first 6 months after traumatic brain injury.

The objective was to assess the nature, rate, predictive factors, and neuroimaging correlates of novel (new-onset) depressive disorders, both definite and subclinical, after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Children with TBI from consecutive admissions were enrolled and studied with psychiatric interviews soon after injury (baseline), and again 6 months post-injury. Novel definite/subclinical depressive disorders at 6-month follow up occurred in 11% (n=15) of the children and subsets of children with non-anxious depression (n=9) and anxious depression (n=6) were identified. Novel definite/subclinical depressive disorder was significantly associated with older age at the time of injury, family history of anxiety disorder, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) lesions, and right frontal white matter lesions. Non-anxious depressions were associated with older age at injury, left IFG and left temporal pole lesions. Anxious depressions were associated with family history of anxiety disorder, Personality Change due to TBI, right frontal white matter lesions, and left parietal lesions. These findings, which are similar to those reported after adult TBI, identify both similarities and differences in non-anxious and anxious depression following childhood TBI with respect to lesion laterality, genetic factors (in the form of family psychiatric history of anxiety disorder), age at injury, and more generalized affective dysregulation.

Association of family stressful life-change events and health-related quality of life in fifth-grade children.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of recent family-related stressful life-change events (SLEs) with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in fifth graders. DESIGN: Population-based, cross-sectional survey. SETTING: Three US metropolitan areas; 2004-2006. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5147 fifth graders and their parents. MAIN EXPOSURES: Nine recent family-related SLEs: a parent's death, another family member's death, a family member's injury/illness, a family member's alcohol/drug problems, loss of a pet, recent change of residence, addition of a new baby or child to the household, parental separation, and parental divorce. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The HRQOL measured using the 23-item Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. RESULTS: Twenty-four percent of children had no reported recent SLEs; 33% had 1, 25% had 2, 12% had 3, and 6% had 4 or more. Mean HRQOL scores (total, physical, and psychosocial scales) were lower for children with more SLEs. The mean total HRQOL score was 80.4 (95% confidence interval, 79.4-81.3) for children with no recent SLEs and 71.8 (70.2-73.5) for children with 4 or more SLEs (P < .001). In adjusted logistic regression analyses, children with more SLEs had greater odds of impaired HRQOL compared with children without any SLEs. Psychosocial HRQOL fully mediated the relationship between SLEs and physical HRQOL. CONCLUSIONS: The occurrence of multiple family-related SLEs in children is associated with less positive HRQOL. By incorporating the needs of families as part of comprehensive, high-quality care, health care professionals can identify these types of family-level needs and assist families in accessing community resources for support.

Predictors of personality change due to traumatic brain injury in children and adolescents six to twenty-four months after injury.

Phenomenology and predictive factors of personality change due to traumatic brain injury (TBI) 6 to 24 months after injury was investigated in children, ages 5 to 14 years, enrolled from consecutive admissions and followed prospectively for 2 years. Injury and preinjury psychosocial variables were assessed. Personality change occurred in 13% of participants between 6 and 12 months after injury and 12% in the second year after injury. Severity of injury consistently predicted personality change, and preinjury adaptive function predicted personality change only in the second year postinjury. Lesions of the superior frontal gyrus were associated with personality change between 6 and 12 months following injury, after controlling for severity of injury and the presence of other brain lesions. Only lesions in the frontal lobe white matter were significantly related to personality change in the second year after injury. After childhood TBI, neural correlates of personality change evolve between 6 and 12 months and 12 to 24 months after injury. The data implicate the dorsal prefrontal cortex and frontal lobe white matter in the emergence of personality change involving the effortful or conscious regulation of affective states.