Subtle Motor Signs and Executive Functioning in Chronic Paediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: Brief Report.
Jewel E Crasta, Beth S Slomine, E Mark Mahone and 1 others
PMID 31424310WHAT IT FOUND
Children with chronic traumatic brain injury showed subtle motor deficits that correlated with executive function problems.
A bedside motor exam may help flag which children need further cognitive testing.
Key findings
01Children with TBI had significantly greater subtle motor deficits on timed tasks and poorer performance on inhibition and verbal fluency compared to controls.
02Within the TBI group, worse motor scores on the PANESS were associated with slower response times, more variability, and poorer performance on executive function tasks like Trail Making and Coding.
03These associations between motor and executive function were not found in the neurotypical control group.
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
The sample size was very small, with only 18 children with TBI and 16 controls, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The study was cross-sectional, so it cannot determine if motor deficits cause executive function problems or if they are both symptoms of the same underlying injury. The authors could not explore the interaction between sex and injury severity due to the small sample size. The study excluded children with penetrating TBI or those unable to complete paper-pencil tasks, so results may not apply to more severe or complex cases.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that treating the motor deficits will automatically improve executive functioning, as the study only shows a correlation in children with TBI, not a causal link. The findings are from a very small sample and require confirmation in larger studies before changing standard practice.