Educational and employment outcomes associated with childhood traumatic brain injury in Scotland: A population-based record-linkage cohort study

by Meghan J. Visnick, Jill P. Pell, Daniel F. Mackay, David Clark, Albert King, Michael Fleming BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability among young children and adolescents and the effects can be lifelong and wide-reaching. Although there have been numerous studies to evaluate the impact of childhood head injury on educational outcomes, few large-scale studies have been conducted, and previous research has been limited by issues of attrition, methodological inconsistencies, and selection bias. We aim to compare the educational and employment outcomes of Scottish schoolchildren previously hospitalised for TBI with their peers. Methods and findingsA retrospective, record-linkage population cohort study was conducted using linkage of health and education administrative records. The cohort comprised all 766,244 singleton children born in Scotland and aged between 4 and 18 years who attended Scottish schools at some point between 2009 and 2013. Outcomes included special educational need (SEN), examination attainment, school absence and exclusion, and unemployment. The mean length of follow up from first head injury varied by outcome measure; 9.44 years for assessment of SEN and 9.53, 12.70, and 13.74 years for absenteeism and exclusion, attainment, and unemployment, respectively. Logistic regression models and generalised estimating equation (GEE) models were run unadjusted and then adjusted for sociodemographic and maternity confounders. ...
Source: PLoS Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Source Type: research