Fatigue among children and adolescents with acquired brain injury in a specialized neurorehabilitation setting.
Marie-Louise Smidt Proschowsky, Sofie Hur Reimers, Anette Granhøj
PMID 39640876WHAT IT FOUND
Fatigue improved during intensive neurorehabilitation, but only self-reported changes in general and sleep fatigue were significant.
Parents consistently rated their child's fatigue as more severe than the children did, particularly regarding cognitive difficulties.
Key findings
01Self-reported fatigue improved significantly from start to end of rehabilitation, while parent-reported changes were not statistically significant.
02Parents rated their children's fatigue as more severe than the children rated themselves, with the largest discrepancy in cognitive fatigue.
03Children with stroke reported significantly less cognitive and total fatigue than the overall group, while those with infection-related ABI reported more.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size (38 participants) limits generalizability and statistical power for subgroup analyses. High heterogeneity in injury type, age, and time since injury complicates interpretation. No control group or healthy norm comparison was included. Reliance on self-report and proxy-report measures introduces subjective bias. Short-term follow-up (approx. 6 months) prevents understanding of long-term fatigue trajectories.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The study was supported by the Capital Region of Denmark.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that the rehabilitation program itself caused the fatigue reduction. The study lacked a control group, so improvements may reflect natural recovery or other factors. Additionally, the subgroup findings regarding stroke and infection are based on very small numbers and should not be used to predict individual patient outcomes.